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Widespread distribution of Pine martens (Martes martes) in a fragmented suburban landscape

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Abstract

Pine martens (Martes martes) are forest specialists that depend either on large patches of forest or on the absence of barriers between smaller forest patches. It thus seems likely that they would disappear from landscapes with heavily fragmented forests and a high density of presumptive barriers that are typical of Central Europe. We studied the distribution of pine martens in a suburban landscape characterised by fragmented forests and a high density of presumptive barriers (e.g. housing areas, roads). We assessed the presence of pine martens using camera traps in a sample of 170 1 × 1-km quadrats and used occupancy modelling to account for imperfect detection. We found an almost complete and countrywide distribution of the pine marten. Larger roads and housing areas were not negatively related to its current distribution as we predicted. We conclude that pine martens are capable to survive in some heavily fragmented landscapes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Florian Frank, Simon Meier, Rahel Plüss and Jasmin Schnyder for fieldwork and yearly reports, the late Paul Marchesi and Mathias Herrmann for interpreting difficult photos, and Gery Sutter for preparing the lure sticks. Many hunters and gamekeepers helped with finding good places for the lure sticks in their hunting grounds. Marc Gloor provided information about the forests in Aargau and Thomas Wider helped with data about road traffic. The GIS work was done by Salome Reutimann and Christian Stickelberger. R.J Gutiérrez gave important comments and helped in editing the English. We thank two anonymous reviewers for valuable suggestions to improve this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gutachter, Berater, Forscher im Umgang mit Wildtieren und Natur, Bündtenstrasse 16, CH-4118, Rodersdorf, Switzerland

    Darius Weber

  2. Zoological Institute, University of Basel, Vesalgasse 1, CH-4051, Basel, Switzerland

    Tobias Roth

  3. Hintermann & Weber AG, Austrasse 2a, CH-4153, Reinach, Switzerland

    Tobias Roth

  4. Abteilung Wald, Sektion Jagd und Fischerei, Entfelderstrasse 22, CH-5001, Aarau, Switzerland

    Christian Tesini

  5. Amt für Natur, Jagd und Fischerei, Davidstrasse 35, CH-9001, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Dominik Thiel

Authors
  1. Darius Weber
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  2. Tobias Roth
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  3. Christian Tesini
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  4. Dominik Thiel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Darius Weber.

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Communicated by: Andrzej Zalewski

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Weber, D., Roth, T., Tesini, C. et al. Widespread distribution of Pine martens (Martes martes) in a fragmented suburban landscape. Mamm Res 63, 349–356 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-018-0363-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-018-0363-3

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