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Fine-scale temporal and spatial population fluctuations of medium sized carnivores in a Mediterranean agricultural matrix

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Abstract

Context

Many Mediterranean ecosystems are human-dominated landscapes comprising a mosaic of agricultural, natural and semi-natural habitats alongside urban areas. The size, spatial pattern and connectivity of these “mosaic landscapes” promote changes in wildlife behavior, movement patterns and habitat use.

Objectives

Study how spatiotemporal landscape changes impact the spatial dynamics of a mammalian carnivore guild.

Methods

We quantified multi-season activity rates/density from camera trap encounters using N-mixture models. One hundred cameras were located at 25 sites, divided into five categories: nature reserve; large natural area; vineyards within natural area; vineyards near settlements; vineyards within the core agricultural matrix.

Results

Golden jackals (Canis aureus) were active in anthropogenic modified landscapes. Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) avoided the core activity areas of jackal during summer and restricted their activity to their peripheries. European badgers (Meles meles) were active in natural patches during winter, but shifted their activity during summer to agricultural fields embedded within natural patches. Feral and wilds cats (Felis silvestris) were highly active in the natural patches during winter and shifted their activity to the agricultural matrix during summer.

Conclusion

Intra-guild spatio-temporal activity patterns of carnivores in mosaic landscapes are distinct and unique to each species. The patterns were affected by season, land-use, and jackal activity rates, reflecting inter-specific resource-dependent competitive interactions. The findings highlight the complexity of intra-guild space-use patterns, and shed doubt on the effectiveness of simple solutions to landscape conservation problems.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ramat Hanadiv Nature Park—Rothschild foundation, the Smaller-Winikow foundation, and Keren Kayemet LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) for their support of this study. We thank Prof. Björn Reineking for his thoughts, assistance, and contribution with the exponential decaying function code. This is publication 935 of the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Hila Shamoon & Tamar Dayan

  2. Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990, Negev, Israel

    David Saltz

  3. Science Division Nature and Parks Authority, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Saltz

  4. The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Tamar Dayan

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  1. Hila Shamoon
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Correspondence to Hila Shamoon.

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Shamoon, H., Saltz, D. & Dayan, T. Fine-scale temporal and spatial population fluctuations of medium sized carnivores in a Mediterranean agricultural matrix. Landscape Ecol 32, 1243–1256 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-017-0517-8

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