Temporal interactions among carnivores in an anthropized landscape of the coastal mountain range in southern Chile
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2478/foecol-2025-0002Keywords:
activity pattern, exotic species, niche breadth, overlap, segregationAbstract
The structuring of carnivore assemblages is based on the partitioning of niche axes, where the activity pattern is relevant for their coexistence. However, the continuous degradation of habitats, and the human presence (and exotic species) limit the availability of resources. Therefore, these species must readjust their requirements to minimize interactions derived from competition. For two years, activity patterns of two native carnivores (the cougar Puma concolor and the chilla fox Lycalopex griseus), one exotic carnivore (the domestic dog Canis lupus familiaris) and people were evaluated in an anthropogenic landscape in southern Chile. A differentiation was observed in the circadian cycle of the species, where the fox was predominantly nocturnal, while the cougar maintained a random activity pattern, in contrast to the dog and humans, which were the most diurnal. The ecological implications derived from the observed patterns are discussed, mainly in relation to the interference exerted by the exotic species.
References
Agostinelli, C., Lund, U., 2018. Package “CircStats”. [online]. [cit. 2024-04-02]. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/CircStats/CircStats.pdf
Boitani, L., Francisci, F., Ciucci, P., Andreoli, G., 2017. The ecology and behavior of feralbdogs: a case study of Central Italy. In Serpell, J. (ed.). The domestic dog: its evolution, behavior, and interactions with people. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 342–348.
Brassine, E., Parker, D., 2015. Trapping elusive cats: using intensive camera trapping to estimate the density of a rare African felid. PLoS ONE, 10: e0142508. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0142508
Brower, J.E., Zar, J.H., 1984. Field and laboratory methods for general ecology. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. Brown Co.
Butler, J.R.A., Du Toit, J.T., 2002. Diet of free-ranging domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) in rural Zimbabwe: implications for wild scavengers on the periphery of wildlife reserves. Animal Conservation, 5 (1): 29–37. https://doi.org/10.1017/s136794300200104x
Carbone, C., Gittleman, J., 2002. A common rule for the scaling of carnivore density. Science, 295 (5663): 2273–2276. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1067994
Carroll, C., Noss, R.E., Paquet, P.C., 2001. Carnivores as focal species for conservation planning in the Rocky Mountain Region. Ecological Applications, 11 (4): 961–980. https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(2001)011[0961:CAFSFC]2.0.CO;2
Colihueque, N., Arriagada, A., Fuentes, A., 2020. Distribution modelling of the pudu deer (Pudu puda) in southern Chile. Nature Conservation, 41: 47–69. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.41.53748
Crooks, K.R., 2002. Relative sensitivities of mammalian carnivores to habitat fragmentation. Conservation Biology, 16 (2): 488–502. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.00386.x
Díaz-Ruiz, F., Caro, J., Delibes-Mateos, M., Arroyo, B., Ferreras, P., 2016. Drivers of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) daily activity: prey availability, human disturbance or habitat structure? Journal of Zoology, 298 (2): 128–138. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12294
Echeverría, C., Coomes, D., Hall, M., Newton, A., 2008. Spatially explicit models to analyze forest loss and fragmentation between 1976 and 2020 in southern Chile. Ecological Modelling, 212 (3-4): 439–449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.10.045
Farris, Z.J., Gerber, B.D., Valenta, K., Rafaliarison, R., Razafimahaimodison, J.C., Larney, E., Rajaonarivelo, T., Randriana, Z., Wright, P. C., Chapman, C.A., 2017. Threats to a rainforest carnivore community: a multi-year assessment of occupancy and co-occurrence in Madagascar. Biological Conservation, 210: 116. https://doi.org/124.10.1016/j.biocon.2017.04.010
Fedriani, J.M., 1997. Relaciones interespecíficas entre el lince ibérico, Lynx pardinus, el zorro, Vulpes vulpes, y el tejón, Meles meles, en el Parque Nacional de Doñana [Interspecific relationships between the Iberian lynx, Lynx pardinus, the fox, Vulpes vulpes, and the badger, Meles meles, in the Doñana National Park]. PhD thesis. University of Sevilla, Spain. [In Spanish).
Fedriani, J. M., Palomares, F., Delibes, M., 1999. Niche relations among three sympatric carnivores. Oecologia, 121: 138–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s004420050915
Fernández-Sepúlveda, J., Martin, C.A., 2022. Conservation status of the world’s carnivorous mammals (order Carnivora). Mammalian Biology, 102 (7401): 1911–1925. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-022-00305-8
Gajardo, R., 1994. La vegetación natural, clasificación y distribución geográfica [Natural vegetation, classification and geographical distribution]. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria. 165 p.
Gálvez, N., Meniconi, P., Infante, J., Bonacic, C., 2021. Response to mesocarnivores to anthropogenic landscape intensification: activity patterns and guild tem poral interactions. Journal of Mammalogy, 102: 1149–1164. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyab074
García-Solís, F., Oyarzún, C., Rau, J.R., Crespo, J.E., 2021. Registro de perrosvdomésticos con trampas cámaras en la provincia de Osorno, sur de Chile [Records of free-roaming dogs with camera traps in the Osorno Province, southern Chile]. Boletín del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, 70 (1): 9–14. https://doi.org/10.54830/bmnhn.v70.n2.2021.204
García-Solís, F., Oyarzún, C., Napolitano, C., Rau, J.R., 2023. Carnivores public appreciation in rural areas of the coastal range of southern Chile. Etnobiología, 21 (2): 178–193.
García-Solís, F., Rau, J.R., Niklitschek, E., 2022. Occurrence and abundance of an apex predator and a sympatric mesopredator in rural areas of the Coastal range of Southern Chile. Land, 11: 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11010040
García-Solís, F., Zúñiga, A.H., Rau, J.R., Garcés, C., 2024. Interannual activity pattern of the European hare (Lepus europaeus) in the coastal foothills of southern Chile. Gayana, 88 (1): 17–21.
Gittleman, J.L., 1985. Carnivore body size: Ecological and taxonomic correlates. Oecologia, 67: 540–554. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00790026
Gittleman, J.L., 1989. Carnivore behavior, ecology, and evolution. New York: Springer. 620 p.
Grigione, M.M., Beier, P., Hopkins, R.A., Padley, W., Schonewald, C.W., Johnson, M. L., 2002. Ecological and allometric determinants of home-range size for mountain lions (Puma concolor). Animal Conservation, 5 (4): 317–324. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1367943002004079
Griss, S., Riemer, S., Warembourg, C., Sousa, F.M., Wera, E., Berger-González, M., Álvarez, D., Bulu, P.M., López, A., Roquel, P., Dürr, S., 2021. If they could choose: How would dogs spent their days? Activity patterns in four populations of domestic dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 243: 105449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105449
Hairston, N., Smith, F.E., Slobodkin, L.B., 1960. Community structure, population control, and predation. American Naturalist, 94 (912): 421–425. https://doi.org/10.1086/282415
Hunter, J., Caro, T., 2008. Interspecific competition and predation in American carnivore families. Ethology Ecology and Evolution, 20 (4): 295–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/08927014.2008.9522514
Iriarte, J.A., Franklin, W.L., Johnson, W.E., Redford, K.H., 1990. Biogeographic variation of food habits and body size of the American puma. Oecologia, 85: 185–190. https://org/10.1007/BF00319400
Iriarte, A., Jaksic, F., 2012. Los carnívoros de Chile [Carnivores of Chile]. Santiago: Flora & Fauna CASEB Ediciones. 257 p. (In Spanish).
Jaksic, F., Medel, R., 1987. El acuchillamiento de datos como método de obtención de intervalos de confianza y de prueba de hipótesis para índices ecológicos [The jackknifing data as a method of obtaining confidence intervals and hypothesis testings for ecological indices]. Medio Ambiente, 8: 95–103. (In Spanish).
Jammakamadaka, S.R, Guerrier, S., Mangalam, V., 2021. A two-sample nonparametric test for circular data-its exact distribution and performance. Sankhya B, 83 (Suppl. I): 140–166. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13571-020-00244-9
Kays, R., Slauson, K.M., 2008. Remote cameras. In Long, R., Mackay, W., Zielinski, W., Ray, J. (eds). Non-invasive survey methods for carnivores. Washington: Island Press, p. 110–140.
Koeppen, W., Volken, E., Brönnimann, S., 2011. The internal zones of the Earth according to the duration of hot, moderate and cold periods and the impact of heat on the organic world. Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 20 (1): 351–360. https://doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2011/105
Krauze-Gryz, D., Gryz, J., 2014. Free-ranging domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) in Central Poland: density, penetration range and diet composition. Polish Journal of Ecology, 62 (1): 183–193. https://doi.org/0.3161/104.062.0101
Kronfeld-Schor, N., Dayan, T., 2003. Partitioning of time as an ecological resource. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 34 (1): 153–181. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.34.011802.132435
Levins, R., 1968. Evolution in changing environments New York: Princeton University Press.120 p.
Lucherini, M., Repucci, J.L., Walker, R.S., Villalba, M.L., Wursten, A., Gallardo, G., Villalobos, R., Perovic, M., 2009. Activity pattern segregation of carnivores in the High Andes. Journal of Mammalogy, 90 (6): 1404–1409. https://doi.org/10.1644/09-MAMMA-002R.1
Mella, J.E., Simonetti, J.A., Spotorno, A.E., Contreras, L.C., 2002. Mamíferos de Chile [Mammals of Chile]. In Ceballos, G., Simonetti, J. (eds). Diversidad y conservación de los mamíferos neotropicales. México: CONABIO; Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, p. 151–183. (In Spanish).
Mella-Méndez, I., Flores-Peredo, R., Pérez-Torres, J., Hernández-González, S., González-Uribe, D.U., Bolívar-Cimé, B., 2019. Activity patterns and temporal partitioning of dogs and medium-sized mammals in urban parks of Xalapa, Mexico. Urban Ecosystems, 22: 1061–1070. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-019-00878-2
Meredith, M., Ridout, M., 2014. Overlap: estimates of coefficient of overlapping for animal activity patterns. R package version 0.3.4. [cit. 2024-04-16]. URL: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/overlap/overlap.pdf
Morin, P., 2011. Community ecology. Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. 373 p.
Murúa, R., 1996. Comunidades de mamíferos en el bosque nativo de Chile [Communities of mammals in the native forest of Chile]. In Armesto, J.J., Villagrán, C., Arroyo, M.T.K. (eds). Ecología de los bosques nativos de Chile. Santiago: Editorial Universitaria, Santiago, p. 113–133. (In Spanish).
Paviolo, A., Di Blanco, Y.E., De Angelo, C.D., Di Bitetti, M.S., 2009. Protection affects the abundance and activity patterns of pumas in the Atlantic forest. Journal of Mammalogy, 90: 926–934. https://doi.org/10.1644/08-MAMM-A-128.1
Rau, J.R., 2024. Relación entre el peso y la superficie de su territorio en carnívoros de Chile [Relationship between weight and surface of the home range in carnivores of Chile] Acta Zoológica Lilloana, 68 (2): 267–271.
Ridout, M.S., Linkie, M., 2009. Estimating overlap of daily activity patterns from camera trap data. Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics, 24: 322–337. https://doi.org/10.1198/jabes.2009.08038
Ripple, W.J., Estes, J.A., Beschta, R.L., Wilmers, C.C., Ritchie, E.G., Hebblewhite, M., Berger, J., Elmhagen, B., Letnic, M., Nelson, M.P., Schmitz, O.J., Smith, D.W., Wallach, A.D., Wirsing, A.J., 2014. Status and ecological effects of the world’s largest carnivores. Science, 343 (6167): 151–162. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1241484
Rodríguez, M., Donadio, E., Middleton, A.D., Pauli, J.N., 2022. Carnivore niche partitioning in a human landscape. American Naturalist, 199 (4): 496–509. https://doi.org/10.1086/718472
Salgado, R., Barja, I., Hernández, M., Lucero, B., Castro-Arellano, I., Bonacic, C., Rubio, A., 2022. Activity patterns and interactions of rodents in an assemblage composed by native species and the introduced black rat: implications for pathogen transmission. BMC Zoology, 7: 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-022-00152-7
Silva-Rodríguez, E., Ortega-Solís, G., Jiménez, J.E., 2010. Conservation and ecological implications of the use of space by chilla foxes and free-ranging dogs in a human-dominated landscape in southern Chile. Austral Ecology, 35 (7): 765–777. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2009.02083.x
Sokal, R.R., Rohlf, F.J., 1995. Biometry. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company. 887 p.
Vanak, A.T., Gompper, M.E., 2002. Dogs Canis familiaris as carnivores: their role and function in intraguild competition. Mammal Review, 39 (4): 265–283. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2907.2009.00148.x
Zapata-Ríos, G., Branch, L.C., 2016. Altered activity patterns and reduced abundance of native mammals in sites with feral dogs in the high Andes. Biological Conservation, 193: 9–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.10.016
Zúñiga, A.H., Jiménez, J.E., 2018. Activity patterns and habitat use of pudu deer (Pudu puda) in a mountain forest of south-central Chile. Journal of Natural History, 52 (31-32): 2047–2054. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2018.1510995
Zúñiga, A.H., Sandoval, R., 2020. Patrón de actividad y uso del espacio de la liebre europea (Lepus europaeus, Pallas 1782) en un área protegida del centro-sur de Chile afectada por un incendio [Activity pattern and space use of the European hare (Lepus europaeus, Pallas 1782) in a protected area in central-southern Chile affected by a fire]. Mastozoología Neotropical, 27 (2): 253–257. https://doi.org/10.31687/saremMN.20.27.2.0.12
Zúñiga, A.H., Jiménez, J.E., Ramírez de Arellano, P., 2017. Activity patterns in sympatric carnivores in the Nahuelbuta Mountain Range, southern-central Chile. Mammalia, 81: 445–453. https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2015-0090
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This journal provides immediate open access to its content under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Authors who publish with this journal retain all copyrights except for commercial rights (transfer of commercial rights) and agree to the terms of the above-mentioned CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
