Oecologia

, Volume 179, Issue 1, pp 223–235 | Cite as

Coexistence of sympatric carnivores in relatively homogeneous Mediterranean landscapes: functional importance of habitat segregation at the fine-scale level

Community ecology - Original research
First Online:
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Abstract

One of the main objectives of community ecology is to understand the conditions allowing species to coexist. However, few studies have investigated the role of fine-scale habitat use segregation in the functioning of guild communities in relatively homogeneous landscapes where opportunities for coexistence are likely to be the most restrictive. We investigate how the process of habitat use differentiation at the home range level according to the degree of specialism/generalism of species can lead to coexistence between guild species. We examine differences in fine-scale habitat use and niche separation as potential mechanisms explaining the coexistence of five sympatric carnivore species that differ in life history traits (Iberian lynx, Eurasian badger, Egyptian mongoose, common genet and red fox) by collecting data from systematic track censuses in a relatively homogeneous Mediterranean landscape. We found that a higher degree of specialism determines the segregation of species among the fine-scale ecological niche dimensions defined using quantitative elements associated with vegetation, landscape, prey availability and human disturbance. The species with the lowest total performance over the set of variables did not exhibit segregation in the use of habitat at this level. Our study indicates that in relatively homogeneous landscapes, there exist subtle patterns of habitat partitioning over small-scale gradients of habitat determinants as a function of the degree of specialism of carnivore species within a guild. Our results also suggest that coexistence between generalist species may be permitted by fine-scale spatial–temporal segregation of activity patterns or trophic resource consumption, but not fine-scale habitat use differentiation.

Keywords

Carnivore guilds Community ecology Fine-scale habitat use Life history traits Niche segregation 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the projects CGL2004-00346/BOS (Spanish Ministry of Education and Science) and 17/2005 (Spanish Ministry of the Environment; National Parks Research Program). Land-Rover Spain lent us two vehicles for this work. We are especially grateful to J. C. Rivilla and S. Desniça for assistance during fieldwork and to M. González and N. Fernández for their valuable suggestions on earlier versions of the manuscript. C. Soto was also supported by a JAE-Predoc grant from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.

Supplementary material

442_2015_3311_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (89 kb)
Supplementary material 1 (PDF 89 kb)
442_2015_3311_MOESM2_ESM.pdf (7 kb)
Supplementary material 2 (PDF 7 kb)
442_2015_3311_MOESM3_ESM.pdf (52 kb)
Supplementary material 3 (PDF 51 kb)
442_2015_3311_MOESM4_ESM.pdf (178 kb)
Supplementary material 4 (PDF 177 kb)

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© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Departamento de Biología de la ConservaciónEstación Biológica de Doñana CSICSevilleSpain

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