Journal
JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
Volume 310, Issue 3, Pages 232-245Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12743
Keywords
activity patterns; camera trapping; coexistence; spatial overlap; human disturbance; protected areas; predator-prey systems
Categories
Funding
- Pollino National Park
- Department of Life Sciences of the University of Siena
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Assessing the spatiotemporal overlap amongst animal species living in sympatry helps to shed light on mechanisms of interspecific coexistence. We analysed the spatiotemporal coexistence in a predator-prey system through multiyear camera trapping, in a mountainous protected area of southern Italy (January 2012-January 2017). Temporal activity patterns and their interspecific overlap, as well as spatial overlap, were estimated for a top predator, that is the wolf Canis lupus, three species of wild ungulates, four mesocarnivores, one small herbivore, livestock and humans. A wide nocturnal temporal overlap was detected between the wolf and almost all the other species (71-91%). The highest temporal (91%) and spatial (63%) overlaps were reported between the wolf and the red fox Vulpes vulpes. For wolf-ungulate pairs, the highest temporal overlap (88%) was reported for the wild boar Sus scrofa, its local main prey. Considering all the other species pairs, spatial overlap was low (i.e. lower than 45%), whereas temporal overlap was substantial (71-91%). Our findings support a significant role of interspecific spatial partitioning in shaping coexistence amongst considered species, which might be influenced by differences in spatial distribution of different food resources.
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