N. 1985. Sex-related differences in the diet of the mink Mustela vison. -Holarct. Ecol. 8: 245-252.The diets of free-ranging male and female mink were sampled by analysing faeces collected from radio-tagged individuals. Significant sex differences were apparent in the predation upon three of the five principal prey groups. The larger males preyed much more heavily upon lagomorphs, the largest prey taken, while females preyed more upon fish and crustaceans than did males. These differences were consistent in each season except the autumn (September to November), when males preyed more heavily upon fish and erustacea than did females. Due to their large size, adult lagomorphs are felt to be relatively unavailable to female mink-Male mink are apparently large enough to specialize on lagomorphs, and male mink niche breadth was consistently lower than that of females. Dietary overlap approximated to 40% in all seasons except summer (68%). when female predation upon lagomorphs reached a peak. This reduction in intraspecific feeding competition was felt to be a valuable side-effect of body-size dimorphism.
The kodkod Oncifelis guigna has one of the smallest distributions of wild felids, being geographically restricted to a narrow strip within Chile and Argentina. An investigation of population demography and habitat selection was carried out using trapping and radio-telemetry techniques in transitional Valdivian forest at two sites in southern Chile. The mean home-range size was estimated at 269 ha with considerable overlap of ranges and core areas giving a density of combined adults and sub-adults of 0.97/km 2 . Forest, thicket-forest, and scrub-thicket predominated in the ranges of most individuals and habitats at less than 50 m elevation were more frequently used than higher slopes. With the exception of pa Âramo and thicket, all other habitat types were used more frequently than expected by at least one of the kodkods. The study con®rmed the strong habitat association with Valdivian and Araucaria forests previously reported for this species, but also suggested a more¯exible use of habitat within home ranges and individual preferences of habitat used as core areas. Flexibility in resource use and mutual avoidance may explain why kodkod ranges overlap and populations reach high densities locally. This high degree of adaptability may well be relevant to the long-term survival of this species in an ever increasing, anthropogenically-modi®ed environment.
The diet of a coast‐living population of mink was investigated from the scats collected over a three‐year period, and compared with information on the availability of principal prey species. Lagomorphs were the single most important prey, and predation upon them matched the abundance of rabbits as determined by monthly counts. Aquatic foraging was particularly important, with rockpool‐inhabiting fish accounting for 29–1% occurrence of food items. Fish predation was more pronounced during winter months when lagomorph prey was less available. Crustacean prey, particularly the shore crab, Carcinus maenas, occurred frequently in the diet. Seabirds figured regularly in the diet; these were either taken as carrion from the strand‐line or through predation on breeding colonies during the summer months.
Artículo de publicación ISIThe guigna (Leopardus guigna) is the smallest and most-restricted New World cat species, inhabiting only around 160,000 km2 of temperate rain forests in southern South America and is currently threatened by habitat loss, fragmentation and human persecution. We investigated phylogeographic patterns of genetic diversity, demographic history and barriers to gene flow with 116 individuals sampled across the species geographic range by analyzing 1,798 base pairs of the mtDNA (496 bp HVSI region, 720 bp NADH-5 gene, 364 bp from 16S gene and 218 bp from ATP-8 gene) and 15 microsatellite loci. Mitochondrial DNA data revealed a clear phylogeographic pattern with moderate separation between northern and southern Chilean populations supporting recognized subspecific partitions based on morphology. A recent demographic expansion was inferred for the southern-most group (San Rafael Lake), presumably due to the complete coverage of this area during the last glacial period, 28000–16000 years BP. Geographical barriers such as the Andes Mountains and the Chacao Channel have partially restricted historic and more-recent gene flow and the Chiloe´ Island population has diverged genetically since being separated from the mainland 7000 years BP. This is the first study of the genetic structure of this threatened species throughout its whole geographic range
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