Food niche segregation between sympatric golden jackals and red foxes in central Bulgaria
Food niche segregation between sympatric golden jackals and red foxes in central Bulgaria
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DOI：
10.1111/jzo.12464
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发表时间：
2017-09
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
H. Tsunoda;E. Raichev;C. Newman;R. Masuda;D. Georgiev;Y. Kaneko
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
H. Tsunoda;E. Raichev;C. Newman;R. Masuda;D. Georgiev;Y. Kaneko
在欧洲，自20世纪中叶以来，金豺（Canis aureus）的活动范围已经扩大，但人们对它如何与其他同域食肉动物相互作用知之甚少。在欧洲国家中，保加利亚是金豺数量最多的国家，在过去的二十年里，特别是在低地栖息地，金豺的数量增加了大约两倍。大型犬科动物通常会竞争性地排斥甚至杀死较小的同域犬科动物，特别是当种群重建导致种群动态变化时。因此，我们研究了保加利亚中部金豺和红狐（Vulpes Vulpes）之间是否发生营养生态位分离，这两个物种是同域的。由于低地比高地的豺狼更丰富，我们进一步研究生境海拔是否会影响营养竞争的强度。1997 ~ 2009年在低地和高地狩猎季节采集的两种物种的胃内容物分析发现，没有明显的食物生态位重叠，海拔对营养相互作用没有影响。在低地栖息地，金豺主要以家畜的尸体为食，而在高地栖息地，金豺主要以野生有蹄类动物的尸体为食。相比之下，在这两个栖息地中，红狐主要且始终先于啮齿动物。这表明营养隔离促进了这些犬科动物在这些主要种群条件下的共存。然而，我们强调，随着金豺在东欧的殖民，对赤狐的影响及其对生态群落的后果，应仔细监测，特别是在可用于支持豺狼的腐肉较少的地区。
In Europe, the range of the golden jackal (Canis aureus) has expanded since the mid-twentieth century, but little is known about how it interacts with other sympatric carnivores. Among European countries, Bulgaria has the largest population of golden jackals and jackal numbers have increased around two-fold during the past two decades, particularly in lowland habitats. Larger canids often competitively exclude, or even kill, smaller sympatric ones, especially when guild dynamics are in flux due to population re-establishment. We therefore investigate whether trophic niche segregation occurs between golden jackals and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in central Bulgaria, where both species are sympatric. Because jackals are more abundant in lowland than in upland Bulgaria, we further investigate whether habitat elevation affects the strength of trophic competition. From the analysis of stomach contents of both species, collected from lowland and upland areas during hunting seasons between 1997 and 2009, we found no significant food niche overlap, and no effect of elevation on trophic interactions. In lowland habitat, golden jackals mainly scavenged carcasses of domestic animals, whereas in upland habitat they consumed mostly carcasses of wild ungulates. In contrast, red foxes predominantly and consistently predated rodents in both habitats. This suggests that trophic segregation facilitates the coexistence of these canids under these prevailing population conditions. Nevertheless, we stress that as golden jackals colonize Eastern Europe, impacts on red foxes, and consequences for ecological communities, should be monitored carefully, especially in regions with less carrion available to support jackals.