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

野生猫科动物什么时候才算野猫？

• 批准号: 2902752
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Aberdeen
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2902752
• 关键词: When; wild; living; cat; wildcat

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

物种在空间和时间上划分资源，使共存成为可能。然而，众所周知，行内攻击和种间杀戮广泛发生，尤其是在食肉动物中。苏格兰的林地捕食者既生活在商业林地，也生活在半自然林地。田鼠主宰着松貂和红狐的食物，可能还有野猫。当田鼠种群崩溃时，这是典型的每3-4年一次，捕食者必须依赖于替代猎物，这可能会导致它们的时空活动和竞争互动的变化。野猫和松貂在这样的撞车事故中具有利用树栖猎物的独特潜力，而貂和狐狸是兼性的食果动物。所有物种都可能越来越多地利用鹿腐肉(森林恢复的副产品)。随着圈养繁殖野猫计划于今年夏天首次重新引入，我将抓住这一变化给捕食者行会群落带来的机会，调查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。野猫曾经在英国广泛分布，但显著减少，主要是由于迫害、狩猎、栖息地丧失以及与家猫杂交。现在苏格兰北部的野生猫科动物数量很少，拯救野猫组织旨在通过在凯恩戈姆斯连接(CC)地区释放圈养繁殖的野猫来防止它们的灭绝。CC项目旨在改善凯恩戈姆斯国家公园内大片区域的栖息地、物种和生态过程，因此圈养释放计划完全符合这些目标。Clashindarroch和Angus Glens是苏格兰野猫行动(SWA)的两个优先地区，主要由FLS管理的林业种植园主导。他们的野猫种群与家猫有着很强的亲缘关系。这些猫在功能上与杂交较少的“纯种”野猫有何不同，以及林业实践应该如何解释这一点，目前尚不清楚。Clashindarroch和Angus Glens的管理杂交种群，以及CC地区圈养野猫的重新引入，为了解苏格兰捕食者群落中共存、空间利用和猎物资源的生态过程提供了一个独特的比较机会。将这个已存在的导入野猫种群与一个新引入的高遗传质量种群进行比较，为探索人工饲养野猫的建立途径提供了一个独特的准实验机会。这也允许探索关于野猫在捕食者群落和更广泛的生态系统中所扮演的角色的关键问题。特别是，了解野猫的遗传来源是否对它们如何融入现有的捕食者群落以及它们是否融入现有的捕食者群落是至关重要的。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，有助于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，以及了解野猫繁殖生态的种植园生境的关键特征，将有助于保护和土地管理组织，如FLS，实施必要的保护措施。考虑到这些目标，本项目的目标是：1.量化引入的人工饲养的野猫和更广泛的凯恩戈姆斯捕食者群落之间的空间和食物重叠，特别关注猎物资源和栖息地的时空划分。比较圈养野猫和杂交自由生活野猫的饮食和栖息地使用/选择，并确定当圈养野猫学会应对竞争互动和变化的猎物供应时，这些特征是否趋同。调查空间和行为反应