Feline predator–prey relationships in a semi‐arid biome in Brazil

Abstract

The spatiotemporal distribution of a predator within an environment tends to be synchronized with that of its prey, to maximize the efficiency of its hunting behavior. However, small predators may also be obliged to avoid potentially agonistic encounters with larger predators due to interspecific competition and intraguild predation. We used occupancy models and indices of temporal overlap to evaluate whether the occurrence of prey species, ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) and top predators (puma Puma concolor and jaguar Panthera onca) influenced the habitat use and activity patterns of the northern tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus) and jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) in a region of the semi‐arid Caatinga biome in Bahia, northeastern Brazil. The occurrence of prey had a positive influence on the use of habitat by the small felids. The northern tiger cat was nocturnal‐crepuscular and presented a high degree of temporal overlap with Spix's cavy (Galea spixii) and the rock cavy (Kerodon rupestris). The jaguarundi was diurnal, by contrast and overlapped temporally with the agouti (Dasyprocta nigriclunis). The occurrence of the ocelot did not influence the habitat or daily activity pattern of the jaguarundi, but presented a high degree of temporal overlap with the northern tiger cat, which adopted a strategy of spatial segregation to avoid direct contact with this dominant competitor. The top predators did not influence the spatiotemporal distribution of the small felids, indicating that their niches are segregated by dietary parameters related to differences in body size. Our results indicate that the availability of prey has a more profound influence on the spatiotemporal ecology of the small felids than the occurrence of the top predators, although the presence of the northern tiger cat appeared to be correlated negatively with that of the ocelot. We believe that environmental factors, such as the conservation status, size and isolation of native habitats, may have a fundamental influence on the strategies adopted by the northern tiger cat to mediate its coexistence with the ocelot.

Circadian activity patterns of mammalian predators and prey in Costa Rica

“…Our study concluded that the nocturnal paca should be an important prey species for the nocturnal ocelot ( Table 2 ). Other studies have found a marked temporal overlap between ocelot and paca, with paca in Colombia being mainly nocturnal and paca in Brazil being strictly nocturnal during the rainy season and predominately nocturnal during the dry season ( Dias et al 2019 ; García-R et al 2019 ).…”

Spatiotemporal mechanisms of coexistence in an European mammal community in a protected area of southern Italy

“…We calculated the Δ 4 estimator when even the smallest sample of each pairwise comparison was >75 photographs; we used the Δ 1 estimator when the number of photographs was <75 for at least one species of the pair (Linkie & Ridout, ; Meredith & Ridout, ). Then, we estimated the 95% confidence intervals (hereafter, 95% CI) of the coefficient estimator, based on 10 000 bootstrap replicates (Dias et al , ). We only considered species with at least 20 records.…”

Spatiotemporal ecology of two Neotropical herbivorous mammals

“…We categorized the activity of each target species as being predominantly nocturnal when most of the activity occurred between 1 h after the sunset and 1 h before the sunrise. For strictly nocturnal species, we considered the ones whose activity periods were exclusively recorded during the night (Dias et al, 2018(Dias et al, , 2019a. We defined the cathemeral period occurring between 1 h before and after sunrise and sunset (see Massara et al, 2018).…”