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Foraging ecology and spatial behaviour of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in a wet grassland ecosystem

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Abstract

We investigated diet composition, habitat selection and spatial behaviour of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in relation to the availability of wader nests in a coastal polder area in southwest Denmark. The predatory role of the red fox in wet grassland ecosystems has profound implications for conservation status of declining populations of grassland breeding waders. However, few studies have focussed on the foraging ecology and behaviour of the red fox in these landscapes. Faecal analyses revealed that fox diet consisted of birds (43 % of prey remains / 32 % of biomass), rodents (39 % / 21 %), sheep (mainly as carrion, 14 % / 41 %) and lagomorphs (4 % / 7 %). Charadriiformes (including waders) comprised 3–12 % of prey remains throughout the year. Telemetry data and spotlight counts indicated that foxes did not select areas with high densities of breeding waders, suggesting that foxes did not target wader nests while foraging. Foxes maintained stable home ranges throughout their lives, indicating that the area sustained a permanent fox population all year round. The population densities, estimated from spotlight surveys, were 0.74 visible foxes km−2 (95 % CI; 0.34–1.61) on the preferred breeding habitat for waders and 1.21 km−2 in other open habitats such as cultivated fields. Our results indicate that red fox predation on wader nests is incidental, consistent with the notion that red foxes are generalist predators that opportunistically subsist on many prey groups.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Danish Nature Agency. The Danish Nature Agency and County of Sønderjylland granted access to the Margrethe Kog Reserve. We thank the municipality of Tønder and local landowners for allowing access to their land. Lars Dalby assisted with telemetry and spotlight surveys and offered valuable comments to previous drafts of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Grenåvej 14, 8410, Rønde, Denmark

    Katrine Meisner, Peter Sunde, Kevin Kuhlmann Clausen, Preben Clausen, Casper Cæsar Fælled & Marie Hoelgaard

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  1. Katrine Meisner
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  2. Peter Sunde
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  3. Kevin Kuhlmann Clausen
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Correspondence to Katrine Meisner.

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Communicated by: Rafał Kowalczyk

Appendix

Appendix

Table 4 The most probable candidate models to explain variation in fox density (March–July 2007) as observed with nocturnal spotlight surveys, ranked in accordance with increasing AICc values. AIC weights indicate the relative support in data of each individual model in relation to all evaluated models. For each model, the partial effect of one selected variable is shown as well as parameter values (b) for covariates (positive value indicates positive correlation with the probability that a fox will be observed on an area unit)
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Table 5 Candidate models of variation in diet composition (four response categories, analysed by means of general multinomial logistic regression) ranked in accordance to parsimony, measured by means of Akaike’s information criterion, AIC (Burnham and Anderson 1998). AIC weights indicate the relative support in the data of each individual model in relation to all evaluated models. For illustrative reasons, not all evaluated models are included in the table. K is the number of parameters. Distance to salt water or the Wadden Sea is measured as the covariate or as the categorical variable (< or > 1 km from the water line). This variable is used as a proxy for ‘reserve effect’, i.e. areas within or outside the Margrethe Kog Wildlife reserve. Seasonal variation is categorised as 2 (November–March; April–July), 3 (November–March; April; May–July) or 4 (February–March; April; May–July; November–January) seasonal categories
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Meisner, K., Sunde, P., Clausen, K.K. et al. Foraging ecology and spatial behaviour of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in a wet grassland ecosystem. Acta Theriol 59, 377–389 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-014-0178-9

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