CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) — A Southern Illinois University researcher is tracking coyotes and bobcats to understand the habitats they seek and how they affect them.

Nicole Gorman is a graduate zoology student and a research assistant at SIU’s Wildlife Research Laboratory in Carbondale. She is studying the movement of bobcats and coyotes in central and southern Illinois.

She says such midsize predators dominate North America and it’s critical to understand their impact. Gorman says studying and understanding predator movement can lead to effective wildlife management, benefiting predator and prey species alike.