As a zoo keeper, I felt connected to the idea of changing the controversial perception of zoos and aquariums. During my first Earth Expedition in Belize, I originally focused my master plan on this issue. However, in the fall of 2019, while taking the Conservation Science and Community course, I changed my plans. This course required discussion of concepts central to the field, such as conservation psychology, human-wildlife conflict, and landscape ecology.  Through a series of community engagement labs (CEL) within this course, I discovered my interest and passion for improving human-wildlife conflict. The second discussion of this course asked us to “discuss the complexities of human-wildlife conflict in other regions of the world,” and compare this global issue to a similar one in my local community. I compared the human-elephant conflict in Africa with the human-coyote conflict in Georgia. Elephants have been my favorite animal for a long time, so I was relatively knowledgeable about the species including their mishaps with humans. This was not the case for coyotes; even though I grew up knowing they live in my backyard, I rediscovered coyotes in a whole new light.


Figure 2. African Elephant in Amboseli National Park during July of 2022 in Kenya, Africa

The second CEL (titled, “Formulating Community Questions) required us to develop questions to ask different community members. This assignment is what sparked my inspiration and cultivated my passion. So I came up with five questions: 1) what got you interested in studying coyotes?, 2) why do you think it is important to conserve this species?, 3) how do you believe coyote populations should be managed?,  4) how do you think the reintroduction of Red Wolves will affect coyote populations?, and 5) how do you help educate the public about the species? I spoke with three community members who had experience with coyotes and summarized their answers to my questions in the Listening to your Community CEL. Two of the community members were professors at different institutions in Georgia and the third was a general community member. I was able to talk with the two professors over the phone, but I was only able to communicate with the last through email which made it less personable. I discovered that my conservation story with coyotes is very similar to theirs. As coyotes only just made their way into the southeast during the 1970s and ‘80s, there was not much known about them when the professors I spoke with became interested in the species. In 2017, the professors decided to survey the knowledge residents in the area had of coyotes. They discovered a gap in education that needed to be filled when living in the same region as these animals (Mowry & Wilson, 2017).

After working on these projects and having these conversations with knowledgeable members of my community, I switched my master plan focus from impacting the perception of zoos to impacting the perception of coyotes. The outcome of these projects together catapulted my studies into learning to coexist with coyotes. I wanted to discover more about the perceptions Georgia residents have of coyotes, how coyote populations are currently managed in Georgia, and how educating the community could impact these matters. I wanted to continue closing the knowledge gap between Georgia residents and their new, here-to-stay apex predator: the coyote. To start, I synthesized the southeastern coyotes' history. It is crucial to understand how this species has influenced the region since they made their entrance. 

Since the 1950s coyotes have been moving into the southeast and by the 1990s coyotes were found throughout the state of Georgia, making themselves prevalent in metro-Atlanta (Mowry and Wilson, 2019). During the 1970s, coyotes became the apex predator in the state. There are now an estimated 250,000 throughout the state (Mowry and Wilson, 2019). The eradication of red wolves aided in coyotes moving into the southeastern United States (Thurber & Peterson, 1991). Deforestation and habitat loss (i.e. urbanization) likely accelerated coyote expansion. This contributes to the ongoing debate about whether or not coyotes should be considered native or non-native species in the southeastern states since it is hard to agree their role in the environment based on the species history. Studies have reported the many different types of habitats this species can live in; from forested mountain tops to rolling plains and now urban environments like the city of Atlanta. This has caused humans and coyotes to encounter each other more regularly which has led to an eruption of human-coyote conflict throughout the southeast (Mowry and Wilson, 2019). Through the extinction of red wolves in the wild and the creation of urban landscapes, humans have allowed coyotes to enter an evolutionary period where they are adapting to these environmental changes. This paper synthesizes how these new human-coyote interactions affect coyote evolution.   

I created this project to provide a detailed synthesis of how hunting by humans has affected the population of coyotes in the United States. We have been watching the evolution of coyotes unfold for a few decades now. Human development has forced coyotes to adapt to this urban environment resulting in a change in their diet. Coyotes understand that gardens, trash bins, and pets can provide them with necessary nutritional resources and serve as Anthropocene replacements (Larson et. al., 2020). Coyotes that now reside in urban settings help maintain species diversity through hunting, scavenging, or foraging which is important for ecosystem development (Humane Society). Understanding all of this is crucial to learning how to coexist with coyotes, because if people understand how they have affected coyotes, then they will likely change how they view coyotes.



Figure 3. Infographic from the Humane Society of the United States demonstrating why hunting coyotes is not the solution.

After two years of diving deep, learning more about the human-coyote conflict in Georgia and realizing what little is known about the effects social media has on our education, I chose to focus this graduate coursework on determining the impact video style can have on Georgia resident’s perception of coyotes. When it comes down to it, education is the foundation of how we choose to perceive our world. Research has shown that social influence by way of social networking or social media can be very effective in creating change (Abrahamse & Steg, 2013). Social influence is described as the ways behavior can be impacted by what people do or by what other people think (Abrahamse & Steg, 2013). The goal of this study was to better understand how using technology can maintain relevance with a new generation of students. Doing so can engage them in an interactive learning process. The educational vlog-style video used in this study provides the audience with information and background about coyotes as well as informative ways to coexist and live with coyotes.

The video style studied here was a vlog-style video created, written, and filmed by me. I designed it to keep the viewer engaged. Dearolph discovered that the channel with consistently light and humorous tones had a better audience engagement. When Dzara (2020) and colleagues compared qualities in different video styles, they determined that YouTube videos were the most versatile. It is clear that modern educational vlog-style videos still ensure all these necessary qualities. For this study, I designed a survey that included a series of Likert scale questions for the viewer to answer before watching the video and a series of the same questions for after they watch the video. Likert scale questions are questions designed to measure people’s attitudes, opinions or perceptions. It was predicted that the results of how viewers perceive coyotes before watching would be different from the results after watching the video. A total of 60 responses were submitted; getting these responses was the biggest challenge of this study. Overall, there was no significance in the impact the style of video has on the perception of coyotes.  

When I began looking a little deeper at the results of this study, two of the seven Likert scale questions were determined to be statistically significant. This means that the null hypothesis is rejected for these questions and there is a significant difference in the response scores. Those two questions were “It is easy to learn how to coexist with coyotes” (labeled question 4 in Table 1 below) and “Coyotes are important for maintaining the health of our surrounding ecosystems by maintaining rodent populations” (labeled question 7 in Table 1 below). Based on this, the video could have had some slight impact on how people feel they can learn to coexist. The results of these questions provide enough information to prompt more curiosity and wonder about the impacts this style of video can have in education if it were utilized more. This also enhances the idea that social media can have a huge impact on conservation with the help of leaders in the field who already have a decent following. Looking back at this study now, it is clear to me that the people, the community, and those directly affected by coyote-conflict are major stakeholders. This became even more clear and highlighted when I traveled to Kenya for my second Earth Expedition. In Kenya, I was immersed in community-based conservation and my mind continuously compared their wildlife conflicts with my communities' coyote conflict.

Table 1. Likert scale questions data analysis results. Created by Courtney Meyer in 2019 for inquiry and action 

While in Kenya for my second Earth Expedition, I was inspired by the community, my instructors and, most importantly, my classmates to organize this citizen science study. The goal of this study was to gain a basic understanding of Georgia residents’ perception of coyotes and hear their thoughts about managing them. I was able to do this with the help of participatory action research (PAR) which is an approach to research that emphasizes participation and action by members of the affected community. I invited three different communities in Georgia (environmentalists, Zoo Atlanta associates, and college students) to participate in this activity at a focus group meeting. These meetings took place between October and November in 2022. The PAR activity each focus group was participating in involved three prompts: 1) What comes to mind when you think of coyotes?, 2) What are the benefits, costs, risks and opportunities with managing coyotes?, and 3) Who should be involved in the decision making of coyote management plans? Responses to these prompts were collected on the poster boards of which the prompts were posted. After each focus group meeting, the notes posted by participants for each prompt were categorized into themes or topics and counted. The frequency of each category can help determine how each community prioritizes these themes and ideas. The use of citizen science to understand the issues and discover solutions has only recently been put into action, specifically in urban areas such as the city of Atlanta (Mowry et. al., 2022). Different areas around the state may require different management plans, so it is important to include the community in the conversation.
There were two major challenges when trying to put these focus group meetings together. Originally, I wanted to include five communities in this focus group study, but the communities of hunters and farmers I reached out to did not respond. Hunters and farmers hold a crucial role and voice in the conversation about managing coyotes. If I had been able to include hunters and farmers, this could have been a study I considered for publication. The major challenge was simply not having enough time. Scheduling these meetings with groups of people in a matter of a few weeks ended up being quitedifficult. I am sincerely grateful for everyone that did spend time and energy to help me find an answer to an ever growing environmental issue in our beautiful state. Hosting these focus groups forced me to get comfortable with talking to members of my community. Though I was not able to include some important stakeholders for this project, the responses I did get from the communities that participated are invaluable. In total, I had 31 participants who created 273 responses to the three prompts of the PAR activity.

The first prompt had 94 responses that were categorized into positive, negative or neutral thoughts. 43.6% of them were positive responses about coyotes. This expresses that these communities mostly had positive perceptions of coyotes. The second prompt had 96 responses that were categorized into benefits, costs, risks and opportunities. Of the responses, 39.6% were benefits, 24% were opportunities, 20.8% were costs, and 15.6% were risks for managing coyotes. This is evidence that community members see more potential in managing coyotes. The third prompt had 83 responses that were categorized into different groups such as, experts, government entities, local communities, property owners and more. Three groups were mentioned more often than the other: experts (38.6%), government (26.5%), and local community (21.7%). While this is interesting information, it does not provide the whole picture. In the future, I plan to successfully host focus group meetings with communities of hunters and farmers. This study has the potential to create real change in how coyotes are managed in Georgia and ultimately impact the persecution coyotes have been receiving for years. Based on the results, officials in the Georgia Department of Natural Resources can include the ideas of their communities in developing management plans. These management plans could also potentially be specified for different regions of the state. Beyond this, these focus group meetings provide citizens with the opportunity to educate themselves on an issue happening in their own backyard. As I have mentioned many times throughout this portfolio, it all comes back to education and teaching people how they can make a difference. The next few projects provide various educational resources that will do just that.


Figure 4. Group of community members responding to a prompt. Photo by Courtney Meyer at Zoo Atlanta in October 2022.

Human-wildlife conflict occurs all over the world, but this is an issue happening right in our backyards. During the Issues in Biodiversity course, I created this lesson plan to be used with many different audiences, however, I focused on individuals who are the future of our society. High schoolers are at an age where they are capable of understanding an issue and making their own decisions regarding it. This lesson plan was created to teach high school students how to coexist with coyotes by teaching them more about the species such as how they adapted to our neighborhoods, how they typically interact with humans, and what management strategies are best for learning to live with them. Students can discuss their personal experiences, interact with experts in the fields, and research possible solutions. The goal is to have the students create a proposed solution to the issue and also provide constructive feedback about each other's ideas. 

The lesson plan would occur over the course of four weeks, one day a week for about one hour each day. By the end of day four, the students should have developed a solution or idea of how to handle the growing coyote issue in Atlanta based on personal research. Each day the students were to learn about various topics centered around coyotes. For example, day one focuses on the history and pre-perception of coyotes, and day three focuses on the students' problem solving and developing long-term solutions. This lesson format allows students to provide their own input on potential solutions. It encourages them to get involved and participate in the decision-making while also allowing for inquiry-based learning incorporating a real-world problem. Throughout the plan, students are encouraged to use their critical-thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. Students have the opportunity to work in a team or partner setting. While developing this project, it became clear just how important informal educational settings can be in addition to formal education. Some students require the direct engagement they receive from actually visiting conservation-based facilities and talking to experts in the field.

As a zoo keeper and an Atlanta resident, I find it important that members of the community learn about the wildlife they can find right in their backyards. For the Leading through Publishing assignment, I wrote a blog titled “Coexisting with Coyotes” with the intention to educate other Atlanta residents about the history of coyotes living in the area, the conflicts humans may encounter with them, and how to coexist with the species. The focus of the article is research done by a few universities in the state of Georgia that explains why learning to coexist with this species is more effective than hunting them just as we did with red wolves. This article provides several actions citizens can take in order to create a better environment for both them and coyotes. This blog fits in perfectly in the “Conservation” section of the Zoo Atlanta website as a “Take Action” page. These “Take Action” pages provide visitors with resources teaching them how they can make a difference in protecting and preserving the diversity of species on Earth. The blog is written to provide the reader with steps they can take to ensure a safe environment for them and the animals they can find in their backyard. It also provides general information on how coyotes came to live here and why it is important that we respect that. As a keeper at Zoo Atlanta and having grown up in the area, I find it crucial that this information is available to our guests if we want to create a safe and healthy environment.  

The biggest challenge I had when creating this blog was articulating the themes in a simpler way and making sure that the blog reads at a middle-school level. The education team at Zoo Atlanta informed me that writing at this level is ideal for their blog posts since they have such a wide range of ages reading them. They also emphasized that even adults are more likely to read more of the article if the reading is simplified. I have been writing scientifically and more formally for several years now, so, strangely enough, it was hard to rephrase my thoughts into less complicated sentences. You can find this article on Zoo Atlanta's website within the News & Stories of their "Conservation" page: https://zooatlanta.org/coexist-with-coyotes/

In the future, I hope this blog educates citizens of Atlanta and inspires them to continue educating others of the truth about coyotes. The history we have created with this species has its complications, thus in order to maintain the health of our ecosystem, we must learn to live with every part of it. Education is at the root of making that change. Coyotes have been under scrutiny for what humans did to Red wolves. As coyotes have moved into the southeast, everything is new to them here, and they have beautifully handled adapting to the open environment. While blogging has been a popular social media outlet in the last decade with travel blogs, cooking blogs, and lifestyle blogs, this outlet has also been morphed with video allowing creators to document whatever inspires them. I became curious about how this shift in media could impact how people obtain knowledge and perceive information. 



















Figure 5. Coyote in the woods. Photo provided by Atlanta Coyote Project.

The purpose of the ecospot project is to engage residents near and in the city of Atlanta with a Youtube video I created in the spring of 2020 for the Biology in the Age of Technology course. The video provides educational information about coyotes, encourages coexistence with these animals, and changes the perception coyotes have in urban areas. In this vlog-style video, I sit down with the viewer, I walk with the viewer, and I explore with the viewer. All while also having a chat about coyotes in the city of Atlanta. The goal when creating a vlog-style video was to have a conversation with someone who has become very passionate about the issues surrounding coyotes in hopes that it provokes the viewer to believe in their abilities to coexist with this wildlife. By the end, the viewer should feel informed about, compassionate for, and supportive of the idea that coexisting with coyotes is possible. With the rise of informal video style, there was a gap between providing educational information and keeping the audience engaged. The effectiveness of contemporary educational videos, such as video-blog style videos, in education can ensure multiple qualities of educational videos are incorporated (Brame, 2016).  

My first major challenge when creating the vlog-style video was finding my voice and making it truly feel like a conversation with someone as they go about their day. I feel the camera angles in the video help facilitate that casual feel, however, I still feel my voice is either at zero or all the way up at 100. The video provided here is me at 100, which is not how I typically have conversations. Though I do not feel this was what I was visualizing for the outcome of this vlog-style video, I do feel it keeps the audience engaged. During the time that I came up with the idea for this project, I was beginning to make personal YouTube videos or vlogs of my hikes. Looking back, I wish I had been more authentic in this educational video. If I were to re-make the video, I know I would make changes to how I present myself, how I sound, and how I provide information about coyotes in the video. Beyond all of these challenges, this project taught me to put myself out there, to get out of my comfort zone, and connect with my community. Overall, this project catapulted my interest in creating video content and I continue to make videos of my adventures all the time. Exceeding my expectations, this video currently has 288 views on YouTube!