Ecology, diet and behaviour of two fox species in a large, fenced protected area in central Saudi Arabia

Lenain, Daniel M.; Olfermann, Ernst; Warrington, S.

doi:10.1016/s0140-1963(03)00088-0

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…data). It is an omnivorous predator, feeding on rodents (including gerbils), reptiles, insects as well as agricultural crops (Nowak, 1999;Lenain, Olfermann & Warrington, 2004). Therefore, V. vulpes can act as a model species for commensal predators that benefit from agricultural development and affect its natural surroundings at the same time.…”

Section: Studied Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural farming alters predator–prey interactions in nearby natural habitats

Shapira

Sultan²,

Shanas

2007

Animal Conservation

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Agricultural farming is a major consumer of global arable lands and has a direct effect on species decline through habitat destruction. However, agricultural endeavours can also evoke indirect threats that will result in behavioural modifications of indigenous species. In a desert ecosystem, where a political border led to a farming dichotomy between intensive cultivates in Israel and intact lands in Jordan, we compared the foraging behaviours and abundances of the red fox and two species of gerbils, close to and distant from farms, and during two moon phases. We estimated fox and gerbil foraging levels by track counts, and measured gerbil time allocation, vigilance and apprehension by the giving-up density method. While foxes were significantly more abundant and active at locations close to farms, gerbils were significantly more abundant and active at locations distant from farms. Moreover, the typical reduction in food consumption during full-moon nights was exhibited only at locations close to farms. These results could suggest that indicators of predation risk, such as illumination intensity or distance to cover, are not universal, and their effectiveness may depend indirectly on anthropogenic activities, such as agricultural farming. The results could also suggest that although intensive agricultural endeavours benefit foxes, they might increase the predatory pressure on gerbils in addition to the already known effects of habitat loss. Therefore, agriculture acts as a double-edged sword by reducing natural habitats, while at the same time changing the predator-prey natural balance.

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Section: Studied Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural farming alters predator–prey interactions in nearby natural habitats

Shapira

Sultan²,

Shanas

2007

Animal Conservation

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“…Estimates vary enormously from 6 ha (Marks and Bloomfield 2006) in urban areas (reviewed by Castañeda et al 2019) to more than 40,000 ha in an Australian desert (Newsome et al 2017b). To date, only six published studies have occurred in arid or semiarid environments, including two in Saudi Arabia (Macdonald et al 1999, Lenain et al 2004) and four in Australia (Marlow 1992, Burrows et al 2003, Moseby et al 2009, Newsome et al 2017b). Across the literature on red foxes, reports of distinct territoriality outnumber studies that observed considerable overlap between adjacent home ranges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Space use and interactions of two introduced mesopredators, European red fox and feral cat, in an arid landscape

Roshier

Carter

2021

Ecosphere

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Introduced mammalian predators are drivers of species decline and extinction globally. The successful management and control of introduced mammalian predators is dependent on some knowledge of space use and movements in order to target a population and monitor outcomes. In Australia, these tasks are made complex as there is more than one significant introduced mammalian predator, namely the European red fox Vulpes vulpes and feral cat Felis catus, the landscapes are vast, and individual-level interactions between predators are little studied. The impact of these two introduced predators is large and a significant factor in the extinction of many of the country's small-to medium-sized mammals, either regionally or globally. In a three-year study, we used high-frequency location data, the deployment of the latest GPS tracking technologies, and recent advances in statistical modeling to examine how these two species distributed themselves in space, the degree to which individual distributions overlapped, intraand interspecific interactions, and temporal patterns of activity in an arid landscape. In the absence of an apex predator, the two introduced mesopredators showed large differences in how they distribute themselves across the landscape and interact with conspecifics. The red fox mostly occupies defined territories, while most feral cats roam apparently independent of each other with occasional periods of frequent interaction with conspecifics of either sex. Intraspecific attraction was strongest in cats, while interspecific avoidance was observed in both directions. The home ranges of feral cats that were range-resident were 3-3.5 times larger than foxes in the same landscape. Notably, we observed long-distance movements in feral cats and some were displaced up to 164 km from their point of release. A greater portion of the feral cat population were non-sedentary and therefore likely less amenable to local control efforts than foxes. Given the different patterns of distribution in time and space, the reliable monitoring of population trends or estimates of abundance will necessarily differ in extent, intensity, or duration for the same level of precision and/or require a different method for monitoring each population.

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“…It is a hot and semi-arid to arid desert steppe habitat, typical of the central plateau of the Arabian Peninsula. The elevation is between 900 and 1050 m above sea level (Lenain et al, 2004). The terrain of this area consisted of flat gravel plains, known as regs, occasionally intersected by dry sandy wadis.…”

Section: Study Organism and Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…100 mm per year (Williams et al, 1999) and typically occurs between March and May each year, but with occasional important rain events at other times. There is no permanent source of water above ground level in Mahazat as-Sayd, but ephemeral pools exist for short periods after heavy rain (Lenain et al, 2004).…”

Section: Study Organism and Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Living on the edge? – On the thermobiology and activity pattern of the large herbivorous desert lizard Uromastyx aegyptia microlepis Blanford, 1875 at Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area, Saudi Arabia

Wilms

Wagner

Shobrak

et al. 2011

Journal of Arid Environments

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Ecology, diet and behaviour of two fox species in a large, fenced protected area in central Saudi Arabia

Cited by 17 publications

References 14 publications

Agricultural farming alters predator–prey interactions in nearby natural habitats

Agricultural farming alters predator–prey interactions in nearby natural habitats

Space use and interactions of two introduced mesopredators, European red fox and feral cat, in an arid landscape

Living on the edge? – On the thermobiology and activity pattern of the large herbivorous desert lizard Uromastyx aegyptia microlepis Blanford, 1875 at Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area, Saudi Arabia

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