Feeding habits and trophic niche overlap in a Carnivora community of Hungary

Abstract

. 1999. Feeding habits and trophic niche overlap in a Carnivora community of Hungary. Acta Theriologica 44: 429-442.The seasonal feeding habits of the red fox Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus, 1758), the stone marten Marłeś foina (Erxleben, 1777), the stoat Mustela erminea Linnaeus, 1758, the badger Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758) and the otter Lutra lutra (Linnaeus, 1758) were studied in south-west Hungary, in the course of four years. The habitat conditions, because of human influences, were different in the first and second two years. Diet was examined by scat analysis (238, 262, 67, 50 and 1033 samples, respectively). Small mammals, mainly rodents, were the most important prey for foxes, stone martens and stoats in winter and spring. In summer and autumn insects and fruit were added to fox and marten diet, while birds were added to stoat diet. The badger's main food resources were invertebrates (mainly insects) and maize and, in autumn, rodents. Domestic animals (mainly poultry and rabbit) occurred in the diet of the foxes and martens in all seasons, carcasses (mainly Cervidae) in the diet of these predators and in that of the badgers. The predominant prey of otters was fish, but when the abundance of fish declined, the consumption of amphibians increased. Predation on game birds and hare was not significant. In all seasons, niche overlap was high between foxes, martens and stoats. Niche overlap between these species and the badger increased from spring to autumn. Niche overlap between terrestrial predators and the otter was low. The diet of predators were different between the 1st and 2nd periods.

Trophic niche partitioning between two native and two exotic carnivores in SW Portugal

“…European carnivore community trophic niche composition and overlap has been shown to be conservative and similar across species. The majority of the community comparisons have addressed the overlap between martens and the red fox, describing their feeding habits as opportunistic, with availability playing a major role in prey selection patterns (Goszczynski 1986, Storch et al 1990, Serrafini and Lovari 1993, Lanszki et al 1999, Padial et al 2002. Our results corroborate the high degree of overlap between these two species found in other Mediterranean areas (Serafini and Lovari 1993).…”

Farm characteristics and farmer perceptions associated with bovine tuberculosis incidents in areas of emerging endemic spread

“…It is difficult to distinguish between re-infection from wildlife and local cattle-to-cattle spread but this suggests that in regions of locally spreading endemic bTB, local infection in the environment from cattle or wildlife may play a significant role in transmission. This is supported by the finding that maize growing near, but not on a farm is protective against recent bTB, as badgers are reported to be attracted to maize (Lanszki, Kormendi et al 1999). …”

Spatio-temporal variation of predator diet in a rural habitat: stone martens in the villages of Białowieża forest

“…The diet of stone marten should be dominated by the most available food types in a particular season (e.g. birds in spring, rodents in autumn, fruits in summer and autumn) (Goszczyński 1986;Lanszki et al 1999). The consumption of human food waste that is available year round may compensate for lower availability of other food types.…”