Ecological niche and occupation by gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) at Las Barajitas Canyon, Sonora

Abstract

Hutchinson defines ecological niche considering the relevance of the environment in the n-dimensional space, according to the patterns of species presence in it. For Peterson and collaborators, these patterns set the basis for niche modeling, since they directly affect the proportion of sites occupied by species. To determine the ecological variables that would favor the conservation of biodiversity at the landscape level, the ecological niche and site occupation by the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) were simulated using photo-trapping monitoring at Las Barajitas Canyon, Sonora, Mexico. The potential habitat of the fox was modeled with the program MaxEnt, and the occupation (ψ) and probability of detection (p) were estimated with the program MARK. Vegetation was sampled using the quadrants and Braun-Blanquet methods to estimate importance values for the main plants for inclusion in the presence-absence models, as well as to know the state of the vegetation, using the species accumulation function. The sampling effort over one-year was 124 days/night-trap, obtaining 575 photographs of the gray fox. The analysis of the activity pattern revealed that the gray fox is a nocturnal-twilight species. The evaluation of the vegetation sampled evidenced the dominance of the Ruellia-Jatropha-Bursera association. The plant species accumulation function showed a positive linear relationship (r² = 0.97). In accordance with the information criteria (AICc), positive correlations were found between the sympatric species cacomixtle and coyote, and seasonality (i.e. spring and autumn), resulting in ψ = 38.5 % and p = 7.7 %. The spatial dynamics of plant communities and the relationships between animal species observed in this study indicate that, Las Barajitas Canyon is a suitable environment for the gray fox, since the Area Under the Curve (AUC) obtained was close to 1 (0.873).Hutchinson define el nicho ecológico incluyendo la importancia del medio ambiente en un espacio n-dimensional, en función de los patrones de presencia de las especies. Para Peterson y colaboradores, estos patrones constituyen la base para su modelación, ya que afectan directamente en la proporción de sitios ocupados por las especies. Para determinar las variables ecológicas que pudieran favorecer la conservación de la biodiversidad a nivel de paisaje, se simuló el nicho ecológico y la ocupación de la zorra gris (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) mediante un monitoreo de foto-trampeo en el Cañón de Las Barajitas, Sonora, México. Se modeló su hábitat potencial con el programa MaxEnt y se estimaron la ocupación (ψ) y la probabilidad de su detección (p) con el programa MARK. Se muestreó la vegetación por los métodos de cuadrantes y de Braun-Blanquet, para generar valores de importancia de las principales plantas e incluirlos en los modelos de presencia-ausencia, así como conocer el estado de la vegetación, usando la función de acumulación de especies. El esfuerzo de un año de muestreo fue de 124 días/noche trampa, obteniendo 575 fotografías de zorra gris. El anális...

A framework to interpret co‐occurrence patterns from camera trap data: The case of the gray fox, the bobcat, and the eastern cottontail rabbit in a tropical dry habitat

“…We used the logical framework to analyze the co‐occurrence patterns of three mammal species, the bobcat ( Lynx rufus ), the gray fox ( Urocyon cinereoargenteus ), and their potential prey, the eastern cottontail rabbit ( Sylvilagus floridanus ), inhabiting tropical dry forest in central Mexico. All of the three mammals are common in arid and temperate mammal communities in North America and there is a large amount of information available on their ecology and life history (Armenta Méndez et al., 2018; Dunagan et al., 2019; Farías et al., 2012; Hansen, 2007; Lesmeister et al., 2015). Moreover, previous surveys conducted in our study region have shown that these three mammal species are among the most frequently recorded throughout the entire year (Cruz‐Jácome et al., 2015), and thus provide a suitable study system with which to empirically investigate co‐occurrence patterns from camera trap data.…”