When is a wild-living cat a wildcat? Using carnivore guild interactions to decipher ecological function

物种在空间和时间上划分资源，使共存成为可能。尽管如此，行会内的侵略和种间的杀戮是众所周知的广泛发生，特别是在食肉动物。苏格兰林地掠食者既栖息在商业林地，也栖息在半天然的林地。田鼠是松貂和红狐的主要食物，很可能还有野猫。当田鼠种群崩溃时，这是典型的每3-4年，捕食者必须依赖于替代猎物，可能导致其时空活动和竞争相互作用的变化。野猫和松貂具有独特的潜力，利用树栖猎物在这种崩溃，而貂和狐狸是兼食水果。所有物种都可能越来越多地利用鹿的腐肉（森林恢复的副产品）。随着今年夏天首次重新引入圈养繁殖的野猫，我将抓住这一变化给捕食者行会社区带来的机会，研究捕食者在猎物丰度低的时期如何适应，以及这如何影响它们的时空活动和竞争互动。重要的是，主要是由于迫害，狩猎，栖息地丧失，以及与家猫杂交。现在仅限于苏格兰北方的数量非常少，拯救野猫的目的是防止他们的灭绝释放圈养繁殖野猫在凯恩戈姆斯连接（CC）地区。CC项目的目的是提高栖息地，物种，和生态过程在凯恩戈姆斯国家公园内的广大地区，因此，圈养释放计划符合这些目标。Clashindarroch和安格斯格伦是两个苏格兰野猫行动（SWA）的优先领域主要由林业种植园管理FLS。它们的野猫种群与家猫有很强的基因渗入。这些猫在功能上与杂交较少的“纯”野猫有何不同，林业实践如何解释这一点尚不清楚。管理杂交种群在Clashindarroch和安格斯格伦一起重新引入圈养繁殖野猫在CC区提供了一个独特的比较机会，了解生态过程的共存，空间利用和猎物资源在苏格兰的捕食者社区。这种预先存在的渗入野猫人口与新引进的人口的高遗传质量的比较提供了一个独特的准实验机会，调查的路径建立圈养繁殖wildcats.This也允许探索的关键问题野猫在捕食者社区和更广泛的生态系统中发挥的作用。特别是，了解野猫的遗传来源是否对它们如何以及是否融入现有的捕食者社区有任何影响至关重要。了解野猫和杂交猫之间的功能差异和相似之处应该能够更好地保护野猫，帮助确定哪些个体受到法律保护。调查野猫对人工林森林管理的空间和行为反应，同时了解野猫繁殖生态的种植园栖息地的关键特征，将有助于保护和土地管理组织，如FLS，实施必要的保护措施。量化引入圈养繁殖野猫和更广泛的Cairngorms捕食者社区之间的空间和饮食重叠，特别关注猎物资源和栖息地的时空分区。比较圈养和杂交自由生活的野猫之间的饮食和栖息地使用/选择，并确定这些特征是否收敛为圈养野猫学会科普竞争的相互作用和不断变化的猎物供应。研究空间和行为反应

Species partition resources in space and time, making coexistence possible. Nevertheless, intraguild aggression and interspecific killings are known to widely occur, especially amongst carnivores. How this affects coexistence is poorly known.Scotland's woodland predators inhabit both commercial and semi-natural woodlands. Field voles dominate the diet of pine martens and red foxes, and likely wildcats. When field vole populations crash, as is typical every 3-4 years, predators must rely on alternative prey, potentially leading to changes in their spatiotemporal activity and competitive interactions. Wildcats and pine martens have the unique potential to exploit arboreal prey during such crashes, while martens and foxes are facultative frugivores. All species may increasingly exploit deer carrion (a by-product of forest restoration).With the first reintroduction of captive bred wildcats scheduled for this summer, I will seize the opportunity presented by this change to predator guild communities to investigate how predators adapt during periods of low prey abundance and how this affects their spatiotemporal activity and competitive interactions.Wildcats were once widespread across Great Britain but declined significantly, largely due to persecution, hunting, habitat loss, and hybridisation with domestic cats. Now restricted to northern Scotland in very low numbers, Saving Wildcats aims to prevent their extinction by releasing captive-bred wildcats in the Cairngorms Connect (CC) area. The CC project aims to enhance habitats, species, and ecological processes across a vast area within the Cairngorms National Park, thus the captive-release programme fits well within these goals.Clashindarroch and Angus Glens are two Scottish Wildcat Action (SWA) Priority Areas dominated by forestry plantation largely managed by FLS. Their wildcat populations are strongly introgressed with domestic cats. How these cats differ functionally from less hybridised "pure" wildcats and how forestry practices should account for this is unknown. The managed hybridised populations in Clashindarroch and Angus Glens alongside the reintroduction of captive-bred wildcats in the CC area offers a unique comparative opportunity to understand ecological processes of coexistence, space use and prey resources in Scotland's predator community. The comparison of this pre-existing introgressed wildcat population with a new introduced population of high genetic quality offers a unique quasi-experimental opportunity to investigate the path to establishment for captive-bred wildcats.This also allows exploration of key questions about the role wildcats play in the predator community and wider ecosystem. In particular, it will be crucial to understand whether the genetic provenance of wildcats has any bearing on how, and whether, they integrate into the existing predator community. Understanding the functional differences and similarities between wildcats and hybridised cats should enable better protection of wildcats, helping to determine which individuals are legally protected. Investigating the spatial and behavioural responses of wildcats to forest management in plantations, alongside understanding key features of plantation habitat for wildcat breeding ecology, will facilitate both conservation and land management organisations, such as FLS, to implement necessary protective measures.With these aims in mind, the objectives of this project are:1. Quantify spatial and dietary overlap between introduced captive-bred wildcats and the wider Cairngorms predator community with a specific focus on spatiotemporal partitioning of prey resources and habitat.2. Compare diet and habitat use/selection between captive-bred and hybridised free-living wildcats, and determine whether these characteristics converge as the captive-bred wildcats learn to cope with competitive interactions and changing prey supply.3. Investigate the spatial and behavioural responses