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Mesocarnivores vary in their spatiotemporal avoidance strategies at communications hubs of an apex carnivore

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Abstract

Mesocarnivores face interspecific competition and risk intraguild predation when sharing resources with apex carnivores. Within a landscape, carnivores across trophic levels may use the same communication hubs, which provide a mix of risks (injury/death) and rewards (gaining information) for subordinate species. We predicted that mesocarnivores would employ different strategies to avoid apex carnivores at shared communication hubs, depending on their trophic position. To test our prediction, we examined how different subordinate carnivore species in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, USA, manage spatial overlap with pumas (Puma concolor), both at communication hubs and across a landscape-level camera trap array. We estimated species-specific occurrence, visitation rates, temporal overlap, and Avoidance–Attraction Ratios from camera traps and tested for differences between the two types of sites. We found that mesocarnivores generally avoided pumas at communication hubs, and this became more pronounced when pumas scent-marked during their most recent visit. Coyotes (Canis latrans), the pumas’ closest subordinate competitor in our system, exhibited the strongest avoidance at communication hubs. Gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) avoided pumas the least, which may suggest possible benefits from pumas suppressing coyotes. Overall, mesocarnivores exhibited various spatiotemporal avoidance strategies at communication hubs rather than outright avoidance, likely because they benefit from information gained while ‘eavesdropping’ on puma activity. Variability in avoidance strategies may be due to differential predation risks, as apex carnivores often interact more aggressively with their closest competitors. Combined, our results show how apex carnivores trigger complex species interactions across the entire carnivore guild and how trophic position determines behavioral responses and subsequent space use of subordinate mesocarnivores across the landscape.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District, California State Parks, Santa Cruz Land Trust, Santa Clara Parks, San Mateo Parks, and many private landowners for giving us access to their land. The authors thank P. Houghtaling, R. King, C. Fust, S. McCain, and many others for their contributions to the fieldwork.

Funding

Funding was provided by National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. #0963022 and #1255913 and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, 1816 S. Oak Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Maximilian L. Allen

  2. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, 1102 S. Goodwin, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Maximilian L. Allen & Alexandra C. Avrin

  3. School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, P. O. Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    Heiko U. Wittmer

  4. Environmental Studies Department, Center for Integrated Spatial Research, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Yiwei Wang & Christopher C. Wilmers

Authors
  1. Maximilian L. Allen
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  2. Alexandra C. Avrin
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  4. Yiwei Wang
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  5. Christopher C. Wilmers
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Contributions

MLA and CCW conceived and designed the experiments. MLA performed the fieldwork and annotated images. ACA and MLA analyzed the data. MLA wrote the manuscript, and all other authors provided editorial advice.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maximilian L. Allen.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All field experimental procedures were performed within the guidelines set by the Independent Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of California, Santa Cruz (Protocols Wilmc0709 and Wilmc1101) and the American Society of Mammalogists (Sikes et al. 2011).

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Additional information

Communicated by Michael Sheriff .

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Allen, M.L., Avrin, A.C., Wittmer, H.U. et al. Mesocarnivores vary in their spatiotemporal avoidance strategies at communications hubs of an apex carnivore. Oecologia (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-024-05541-y

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