Non-linear relationship between body size of terrestrial carnivores and their trophic niche breadth and overlap |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Carnivore Ecology Research Group, Kaposvár University, Kaposvár, Hungary;2. Institute for Wildlife Conservation, Szent István University, Gödöllő, Hungary;3. Department of Mathematics and Informatics, Kaposvár University, Kaposvár, Hungary;4. Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Białowieża, Poland;1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, I-20126 Milano, Italy;2. British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford IP24 2PU, Norfolk, UK;3. Agriculture General Directorate, Lombardy Region, Piazza Città di Lombardia 1, I-20124 Milano, Italy;1. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil;2. Departamento de Farmácia e Laboratório Clínico do Hospital Universitário, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil;3. Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos, Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil;1. Department of Avian Biology & Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznań, Poland;2. Laboratory and Museum of Evolutionary Ecology, Department of Ecology, Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences, University of Prešov, 17. novembra 1, 081 16 Prešov, Slovakia;3. Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Zielona Góra, Szafrana 1, 65-516 Zielona Góra, Poland;1. Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 4888 Shengbeida Road, Changchun 130102, China;2. Department of Ecology and Genetics, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen, 18D, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden;3. Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, 266 Fangzheng Avenue, Chongqing 400714, China;4. School of Environment, Northeast Normal of University, 2555 Jingyue Street, Changchun 130117, China;1. Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia;2. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA;3. Arid Recovery Ltd., Roxby Downs, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Studying food partitioning of mammalian predators is important for understanding trophic structures and interactions between coexisting carnivore species. This is particularly pertinent in the light of expanding ranges of populations of generalist species whose habitat and diet overlap with more specialized species. Here, we tested the resource partitioning hypothesis in terrestrial carnivores, predicting that trophic niche breadth and overlap relate positively to body mass. We used dietary data from 18 terrestrial carnivore taxa in four families (Canidae, Mustelidae, Felidae and Ursidae; body mass 0.1–173.6 kg) in three regions in Central and Eastern Europe, i.e. deciduous forest and forest-steppe region (DFR), temperate deciduous and mixed forest region (MFR) and transitory mixed forest regions (TFR). We ranked carnivores along an axis of trophic niche (breadth and overlap), and analysed the relationship between trophic niche and body mass (or pair-wise difference in body mass). A hierarchical cluster analysis of diet composition divided carnivores into four ecological groups: wild ungulate predators; small-mammal predators; amphibians and small mammal predators and omnivores. The relationship between body mass of predators and both trophic niche breadth and trophic niche overlap were hump-shaped. The trophic niche breadth to body mass ratio was significantly lower in DFR than in TFR and trophic niche overlap was significantly higher in DFR than in MFR and TFR. The predominant food resource is small mammals whose abundance is related to local agricultural and forestry management practices. Modifications of management techniques can affect population dynamics and community composition of carnivore species, especially in the case of small-mammal predators. |
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| Keywords: | Predator community Resource partitioning Body mass Trophic niche Hump-shaped relationship |
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