Project:

Determining Food Sources for Long Island Coyotes Through Metabarcoding of Scat

Students:

Meiqi Ma, Isabella Panossian, Taylor Price, Stefan Pappas

School:

Friends Academy, Nassau

Mentors:

Jennifer Newitt

Abstract:

Foxes and Coyotes both belong to the family Canidae. While red and gray foxes are native to the Long Island area, coyotes are newly introduced to the area as they migrated southeastward from the north. Coyotes take an arduous journey to get to Long Island, as they travel through New York City to Long Island, by swimming through bays or going on bridges. Some coyotes also swim from Fishing Island, Connecticut. They search for living space and new habitats as their original locations were densely populated, and newer generations of coyotes are easily outcompeted by more experienced coyotes. Despite their move, coyotes are still outcompeted by foxes on Long Island, as there are significantly fewer coyotes in Long Island than foxes. This study will focus on the diet comparison between coyotes and foxes on Long Island, as it may allow us to understand if there is a major overlap between the two, causing coyotes to be outcompeted. Both Coyotes and foxes eat a variety of foods. In general, co