Differential Habitat Use or Intraguild Interactions: What Structures a Carnivore Community?

Gompper, Matthew E.; Lesmeister, Damon B.; Ray, Justina C.; Malcolm, Jay R.; Kays, Roland

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0146055

Cited by 65 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 53 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Thus competitive exclusion among them is unlikely, at least within the analyzed scale, and at a relatively conserved and protected area such as ours. The lack of spatial partitioning based on interspecific interaction was also found for North American carnivores, and similarly to our study, habitat preferences were more important in structuring the community [107, 108]. Nonetheless, because occupancy does not account for variations in density, it is still possible that the presence of one species affects the density of the other, as previously suggested [109].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Landscape Use and Co-Occurrence Patterns of Neotropical Spotted Cats

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Small felids influence ecosystem dynamics through prey and plant population changes. Although most of these species are threatened, they are accorded one of the lowest research efforts of all felids, and we lack basic information about them. Many felids occur in sympatry, where intraguild competition is frequent. Therefore, assessing the role of interspecific interactions along with the relative importance of landscape characteristics is necessary to understand how these species co-occur in space. Here, we selected three morphologically similar and closely related species of small Neotropical cats to evaluate the roles of interspecific interactions, geomorphometry, environmental, and anthropogenic landscape characteristics on their habitat use. We collected data with camera trapping and scat sampling in a large protected Atlantic forest remnant (35,000 ha). Throughout occupancy modeling we investigated whether these species occur together more or less frequently than would be expected by chance, while dealing with imperfect detection and incorporating possible habitat preferences into the models. We used occupancy as a measure of their habitat use. Although intraguild competition can be an important determinant of carnivore assemblages, in our system, we did not find evidence that one species affects the habitat use of the other. Evidence suggested that proximity to the nature reserve (a more protected area) was a more important driver of Neotropical spotted cats’ occurrence than interspecific interactions or geomorphometry and environmental landscape characteristics—even though our entire study area is under some type of protection. This suggests that small felids can be sensitive to the area protection status, emphasizing the importance of maintaining and creating reserves and other areas with elevated protection for the proper management and conservation of the group.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Landscape Use and Co-Occurrence Patterns of Neotropical Spotted Cats

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition to our known marten used locations, delineation of the population range enabled us to classify fisher used locations outside of the 95% KDE as marten unused locations with a high level of confidence (see first‐order RSPF of DeCesare et al, ). The resulting broadscale distributions of used and unused marten locations using this approach closely matched results from noninvasive surveys conducted in our study area: 2000–2002 (track plates and camera traps, Gompper, Lesmeister, Ray, Malcolm, & Kays, ), 2016 (scat detection dogs, A. Wong, Cornell University, unpubl. data) and 2014–2018 (camera traps, see model evaluation section).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 66%

Abiotic conditions mediate intraguild interactions between mammalian carnivores

Jensen

Humphries

2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Intraguild (IG) interactions are common among mammalian carnivores, can include intraguild predation (IGP) and interspecific killing (IK), and are often asymmetrical, where a larger more dominant species (IGpredator) kills a smaller one (IGprey). According to ecological theory, the potential for an IGpredator and IGprey to coexist depends on whether the direct consumptive benefits for the IGpredator are substantial (IGP) or insignificant (IK), the extent to which the IGprey is the superior exploitative competitor on shared prey resources, and overall ecosystem productivity. We used resource selection models and spatially explicit age and harvest data for two closely related mesopredators that engage in IG interactions, American martens (Martes americana; IGprey) and fishers (Pekania pennanti; IGpredator), to identify drivers of distributions, delineate areas of sympatry and allopatry, and explore the role of an apex predator (coyote; Canis latrans) on these interactions. Model selection revealed that fisher use of this landscape was strongly influenced by late winter abiotic conditions, but other bottom‐up (forest composition) and top‐down (coyote abundance) factors also influenced their distribution. Overall, fisher probability of use was higher where late winter temperatures were warmer, snowpack was deeper, and measures of productivity were greater. Martens were constrained to areas of the landscape where the probability of fisher use, coyote abundance, and productivity were low and selected for forest conditions that presumably maximized prey availability. Marten age data indicated an increased proportion of juveniles outside of the predicted area of sympatry, suggesting that few animals survived >1.5 years in this area that supported higher densities of fishers and coyotes. Consistent with asymmetrical IG interaction theory, the IGpredator (fishers and, to a lesser degree, coyotes) competitively excluded the IGprey (martens) from more productive, milder temperature habitats, whereas IGpredators and IGprey coexisted in low productivity environments, where a combination of abiotic and biotic conditions enabled the IGprey to be the superior exploitative competitor.

show abstract

“…Most research thus far has focused on large species (Ripple & Beschta, 2012;Wolfe et al, 2015). However, it is important to understand how different mechanisms influence the successful coexistence of entire carnivore communities, particularly poorly studied small species (Gompper, Lesmeister, Ray, Malcolm, & Kays, 2016). While small carnivore communities are now receiving more attention, African tropical forest communities remain poorly studied (Bahaa-el-din et al, 2013;Ray & Sunquist, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, interference competition strongly influences species coexistence and realized niches within a community (Case & Gilpin, 1974;Rowles & O'Dowd, 2006;Zhang, Andersen, Dieckmann, & Brännström, 2015) (Table 1). The potential for lethal interactions with dominant species creates a landscape of fear among subordinate competing species and causes them to avoid certain habitats, times of the day, or food items (Gompper et al, 2016;Laundré et al, 2014;Rowles & O'Dowd, 2006). Subordinate generalist species may thereby become facultative specialists with a realized niche that is much narrower than their fundamental niche (Grassel & Rachlow, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition and specialization in an African forest carnivore community

Mills

San

Robinson

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Globally, human activities have led to the impoverishment of species assemblages and the disruption of ecosystem function. Determining whether this poses a threat to future ecosystem stability necessitates a thorough understanding of mechanisms underpinning community assembly and niche selection. Here, we tested for niche segregation within an African small carnivore community in Kibale National Park, Uganda. We used occupancy modeling based on systematic camera trap surveys and fine‐scale habitat measures, to identify opposing preferences between closely related species (cats, genets, and mongooses). We modeled diel activity patterns using kernel density functions and calculated the overlap of activity periods between related species. We also used co‐occupancy modeling and activity overlap analyses to test whether African golden cats Caracal aurata influenced the smaller carnivores along the spatial and/or temporal axes. There was some evidence that related species segregated habitat and activity patterns. Specialization was particularly strong among forest species. The cats and genets partitioned habitat, while the mongooses partitioned both habitat and activity period. We found little evidence for interference competition between African golden cats and other small carnivores, although weak interference competition was suggested by lower detection probabilities of some species at stations where African golden cats were present. This suggests that community assembly and coexistence in this ecosystem are primarily driven by more complex processes. The studied carnivore community contains several forest specialists, which are typically more prone to localized extinction. Preserving the observed community assemblage will therefore require the maintenance of a large variety of habitats, with a particular focus on those required by the more specialized carnivores.

show abstract

Differential Habitat Use or Intraguild Interactions: What Structures a Carnivore Community?

Cited by 65 publications

References 53 publications

Landscape Use and Co-Occurrence Patterns of Neotropical Spotted Cats

Landscape Use and Co-Occurrence Patterns of Neotropical Spotted Cats

Abiotic conditions mediate intraguild interactions between mammalian carnivores

Competition and specialization in an African forest carnivore community

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About