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13 July 2021 Response of mesocarnivores to anthropogenic landscape intensification: activity patterns and guild temporal interactions
Nicolás Gálvez, Paola Meniconi, José Infante, Cristian Bonacic
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Abstract

Carnivores face important anthropogenic threats in agricultural areas from habitat loss and fragmentation, disturbance by domestic free-roaming dogs and cats, and direct hunting by humans. Anthropogenic disturbances are shifting the activity patterns of wild animals, likely modifying species interactions. We estimated changes in the activity patterns of the mesocarnivore guild of agricultural landscapes of the La Araucanía region in southern Chile in response to land-use intensification, comparing intra- and interspecific activity patterns at low and high levels of forest cover, fragmentation, and land ownership subdivision. Our focal species comprise the güiña or kod-kod (Leopardus guigna), two fox species (Lycalopex culpaeus and L. griseus), a skunk (Conepatus chinga), and one native mustelid (Galictis cuja), in addition to free-roaming dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and cats (Felis catus) and their main mammalian prey species (i.e., Rodentia and Lagomorpha). In 23,373 trap nights, we totaled 21,729 independent records of our focal species. Our results show tendencies toward nocturnality at high land-use intensification, with potential impacts on species fitness. Nocturnal mesocarnivores decreased their diurnal/ crepuscular activity, while cathemeral activity shifted to nocturnal activity at high land-use intensification, but only when in sympatry with a competitor. High land-use intensification decreased the activity overlap between native and domestic mesocarnivores but increased the overlap between native mesocarnivores. High intensification also reduced overlap with prey species. Notably, foxes displayed peaks of activity opposing those of dogs, and plasticity in activity pattern when in sympatry with dogs, such as strategies to avoid encounters. We stress the need to suppress the free-roaming and unsupervised activity of dogs to mitigate impacts of high land-use intensification on mesocarnivores.

Nicolás Gálvez, Paola Meniconi, José Infante, and Cristian Bonacic "Response of mesocarnivores to anthropogenic landscape intensification: activity patterns and guild temporal interactions," Journal of Mammalogy 102(4), 1149-1164, (13 July 2021). https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyab074
Received: 7 September 2020; Accepted: 7 June 2021; Published: 13 July 2021
KEYWORDS
activity pattern
agricultural landscapes
cámaras trampa
camera traps
competición intra-gremial
free-roaming dogs
intensificación del uso de la tierra
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