A researcher says people building near Northwoods lakes and rivers is changing what types of animals hunt near those shorelines.
A research scientist from Michigan Tech University Dan Haskell will speak Tuesday evening(7/30) at Kemp Natural Resources Station in Woodruff about his recent study.
Haskell says with more homes near lakes the larger carnivores have been replaced by smaller carnivores like fox and raccoon....
"....we noticed a major shift in the carnivore diversity between high-developed lakes and low-developed lakes. Red fox and raccoons are more associated with high-developed lakes as they seem to adapt to human presence. A lot of the larger carnivores seem to avoid those(developed lakes..)"
Haskell says with the larger carnivores like coyotes and bobcats not in the mix, species like the red fox and raccoon don't have the larger species keeping their populations under control. With more fox and raccoons around changes in shoreline predation also occur...
"....raccoons will prey on ground-nesting birds like loons, ducks, ground-nesting warblers, etc. so you see diversity declines...we also saw a big increase in deer(on developed lakes)..."
Haskell will speak Tuesday at 7 p.m. Advance registration is requested. Contact Kemp Natural Resourcesfor more information.
