Winter selection of habitats within intertidal foraging areas by mink (Mustela vison)

Bonesi, Laura; Dunstone, Nigel; O’Connell, Mark

doi:10.1017/s0952836900003149

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The data used in this study were instead mostly from the winter and spring seasons, when resources were scarcer (Kruuk 1995) and competition was likely to be more intense. The lower niche overlap in the Scottish Islands might also be partly due to the fact that in coastal habitats, where the study of Clode and Macdonald was conducted, mink tend to hunt in the intertidal area while otters hunt in the sea (Bonesi et al 2000), thereby favouring the selection of different prey species and consequently a lower niche overlap. Instead, in a riparian habitat, such as the one of this study, both otter and mink feed in the same areas and therefore are likely to catch more of the same prey.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition between Eurasian otterLutra lutraand American minkMustela visonprobed by niche shift

Bonesi

Chanin²,

Macdonald³

2004

Oikos

Self Cite

110

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2004. Competition between Eurasian otter Lutra lutra and American mink Mustela vison probed by niche shift. Á/ Oikos 106: 19 Á/26.Interspecific competition is one of several constraints that might prevent an individual from maximising its energy intake. When an interspecific competitor is introduced, an individual is often forced to shift its diet according to the intensity of the competitive pressure. In this paper, we explore whether the introduced American mink (Mustela vison Schreber) shifts its diet when the density of its potential competitor, the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra L.), is increased. We compared the diets of otter and mink at the same location but at two moments in time when the relative densities of these two species were different while controlling for the abundance of aquatic prey. Mink and otters are semi-aquatic mammals belonging to the same guild of mustelids and otters are expected to be the dominant competitor because they are larger and better at hunting underwater. The diets of otters and mink overlap to a great extent but while otters specialise mainly on aquatic prey, mink are able to exploit both aquatic and terrestrial prey. These observations prompted the hypothesis investigated in this work that at higher otter densities the diet of mink should change to include a higher proportion of terrestrial items. This hypothesis was supported by the data and at higher otter densities mink diet was observed to consist of a higher proportion of mammals and birds while fewer fish were present, although this pattern was present only in winter while no changes were observed in spring. Meanwhile the diet of otters remained basically unchanged. In the second part of the study, we investigated whether niche breadth and niche overlap between otter and mink changed at different otter densities. We found that niche overlap declined as the density of otters increased, in agreement with the prediction of habitat selection theory.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Competition between Eurasian otterLutra lutraand American minkMustela visonprobed by niche shift

Bonesi

Chanin²,

Macdonald³

2004

Oikos

Self Cite

110

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“…Interspecific aggression and killing is, indeed, common among mammalian carnivores (Palomares and Caro 1999) and such behaviours have been observed also between otters and mink. Otters have been observed stealing food from mink (Bonesi et al 2000) and mink fur has been found in otter spraints indicating that otters are able to predate on mink (Grigor'ev and Egorov 1969).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of released Eurasian otters on a population of American mink: a test using an experimental approach

Bonesi

Macdonald²

2004

Oikos

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Competition is considered to be a major evolutionary driving force within assemblages of related and morphologically similar species, but it is notoriously difficult to test and quantify especially amongst species that cannot be easily manipulated in a laboratory or in the field. By exploiting a re‐introduction of Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra) in the Upper Thames catchment (UK) in 1999 we performed an experiment to test whether there was evidence of competition between otters and American mink (Mustela vison). Mink and otters are semi‐aquatic mustelids belonging to the same guild. Otters are expected to be the dominant competitor because they are larger and better adapted at exploiting aquatic resources. Our hypothesis was that mink declines when the density of otters increases. We measured the effect of competition at the population level, by observing whether mink distribution and densities changed in an area of 1353 km2 in association with the arrival of its putative competitor. We estimated distribution and densities by means of sign surveys and trapping. The results showed that otters were associated with a significant and rapid reduction in the densities of mink, while mink occupancy remained approximately the same in an area of 2464 km2 that was used as a control. We observed that the spatial distribution of the mink population throughout its decline was influenced by the yearly cycle of mink activities, with areas being temporarily re‐colonized during the dispersal season. Mink is an invasive species in the UK threatening the survival of some native species. Our findings suggest that the re‐establishment of otter populations is likely to lead to a decline of mink that may, in turn, be beneficial to native species threatened by this invasive.

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“…In the presence of otters, mink diet becomes more terrestrial yet the diet of otters changes relatively little in response to the presence of mink, suggesting that, as expected from their relative sizes, otters are the dominant competitor and that where they are sympatric, mink are forced to undergo a dietary niche shift (Clode andMacdonald 1995, Bonesi et al 2004). Otters have been observed stealing food from mink (Bonesi et al 2000), and bite wounds in otters apparently inflicted by mink suggest that direct aggres-sion occurs between them (Simpson 2006). Indeed, field signs indicate that the presence of mink have declined nationally in recent years, in apparent response to a concomitant increase in the signs of otters (Strachan and Jefferies 1996, Jefferies 2003, Bonesi et al 2006, McDonald et al 2007, and evidence suggests that mink densities may decline as otters recover (Bonesi and Macdonald 2004a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of native competitors on an alien invasive: temporal niche shifts to avoid interspecific aggression

Harrington

Yamaguchi

et al. 2009

Ecology

144

133

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The American mink, Neovison vison, is an established, alien invasive species in the United Kingdom that originally colonized the country at a time when two native mustelids (otters, Lutra lutra, and polecats, Mustela putorius) were largely absent. Both of these species are now recovering their populations nationally. We compared the relative abundance and the behavior of mink in the 1990s and in the 2000s in an area of southern England where both otters and polecats were absent in the 1990s but reappeared in the intervening years. We found that mink were still abundant in the 2000s in the presence of otters and polecats, but that they appeared to have altered some aspects of their behavior. In accordance with previous studies, we found that mink consumed fewer fish in the presence of otters. We also found that mink were predominantly nocturnal in the 1990s (in the absence of competitors) but were predominantly diurnal in the 2000s (in the presence of competitors). We hypothesize that this temporal shift may be an avoidance mechanism allowing the coexistence of mink with the otter and the polecat, although we are unable to attribute the shift to one or the other species. We also found that mink in the presence of competitors weighed less but remained the same size, suggesting the possibility of a competitor-mediated decline in overall body condition. This is one of very few field studies demonstrating a complete temporal shift in apparent response to competitors. The implications of this study are that recovering otter populations may not lead to significant and long-term reductions in the number of invasive mink in the United Kingdom as has been suggested in the media, although we cannot exclude the possibility of a decline in mink in the longer-term.

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Winter selection of habitats within intertidal foraging areas by mink (Mustela vison)

Cited by 13 publications

References 9 publications

Competition between Eurasian otterLutra lutraand American minkMustela visonprobed by niche shift

Competition between Eurasian otterLutra lutraand American minkMustela visonprobed by niche shift

Impact of released Eurasian otters on a population of American mink: a test using an experimental approach

The impact of native competitors on an alien invasive: temporal niche shifts to avoid interspecific aggression

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