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Pennsylvania Coyotes Formed a Contact Zone Between Two Genetic Clusters

Eastern coyote moving through a deciduous forest in Connecticut
Research · Genetics & genomics

A genome-wide study of coyotes (Canis latrans) in the northeastern United States has identified two subtle but distinct genetic clusters that meet in Pennsylvania, USA. The study, published on 10 March 2026 in Ecology and Evolution, used samples collected over a decade to examine how a highly mobile species can still develop geographic genetic structure.

The researchers analysed genome-wide genetic data from 1,199 coyotes from the northeastern United States, with a particular focus on temporal and spatial patterns in Pennsylvania. Coyotes are capable of dispersing over long distances, and earlier broad-scale studies had found relatively little population structure across much of the species’ range.

Two genetic clusters met in Pennsylvania

Despite that mobility, the new analysis detected two genetic groups separated by a weak transition, or cline. Pennsylvania lay within the contact zone between them rather than belonging cleanly to one genetic group.

The researchers inferred that the two groups reflect different historical routes by which coyotes expanded eastward. One expansion moved south of the Great Lakes, while another followed a more northerly route towards the northeastern United States. Pennsylvania now appears to be an area where descendants of these expansion fronts meet and exchange genes.

The spatial division also aligned qualitatively with patterns of human population density and activity. The authors conclude that human-modified landscapes may contribute to fine-scale genetic structure even in a species with high dispersal capacity.

No robust temporal shift in morphology was detected

Body measurements differed only modestly between the genetic clusters, and the researchers found no robust temporal change in morphology during the period studied. A weak tendency towards increasing body mass was detected among males in southwestern Pennsylvania, but the authors did not describe this as a strong temporal shift.

Despite extensive dispersal, population structure remained detectable, with Pennsylvania forming a contact zone between descendants of two eastward expansion routes.

Sources and image credit

  1. Marshall, C. A., Halo, J., Van Why, K., Loera, Y., Tennenbaum, S. R., Burton, C., Di Landro, A., Dominguez, D., Duncan, D., Machado, M., Posada, C., Gaughran, S. J., Lichak, M., Brzeski, K., Heppenheimer, E., & vonHoldt, B. (2026). Signatures of the Anthropocene: Population genomic structure detected in Pennsylvania coyotes. Ecology and Evolution, 16(3), e73216. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.73216Primary open-access research article first published 10 March 2026. Genome-wide data from 1,199 coyotes in the northeastern United States revealed two subtle genetic clusters with a weak clinal contact zone in Pennsylvania and supported two historical eastward expansion routes.

Image: John Stockla / Wikimedia Commons — eastern coyote (Canis latrans) in New Haven County, Connecticut, USA, 22 April 2022. Illustrative photograph, not one of the animals from the Pennsylvania genomics study. · CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ · Source

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