Habitat use of coexisting introduced eastern cottontail and native European hare

Bertolino, Sandro; Montezemolo, Nicola Cordero di; Perrone, Aurelio

doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2013.02.002

Cited by 28 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Spillover predation occurs when predators emigrate from one source habitat where they find a primary prey, and they start foraging in sink habitats where they can find secondary preys (DeCesare et al, 2010). In our case, we believe that cottontails can become a main prey for foxes in the study area, because of their limited home range and the constant selection of permanent cover that can make them predictable preys (Swihart, 1986;Bertolino et al, 2013). In our case, we believe that cottontails can become a main prey for foxes in the study area, because of their limited home range and the constant selection of permanent cover that can make them predictable preys (Swihart, 1986;Bertolino et al, 2013).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 79%

“…Previous works do not provide evidence for this, however, they analyzed a limited geographical scale (Bertolino et al, 2011a(Bertolino et al, , 2013) and had a cross-sectional design (Vidus-Rosin et al, 2011) that we deemed poor in revealing complex biotic interactions, compared to largescale data and time series (Wisz et al, 2013). Previous works do not provide evidence for this, however, they analyzed a limited geographical scale (Bertolino et al, 2011a(Bertolino et al, , 2013) and had a cross-sectional design (Vidus-Rosin et al, 2011) that we deemed poor in revealing complex biotic interactions, compared to largescale data and time series (Wisz et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…We conducted longitudinal data analysis on the abundance of the three species, while previous studies were cross-sectional and did not consider indirect interactions with foxes, failing in finding any impact (Bertolino et al, 2011a(Bertolino et al, , 2013Vidus-Rosin et al, 2011). We conducted longitudinal data analysis on the abundance of the three species, while previous studies were cross-sectional and did not consider indirect interactions with foxes, failing in finding any impact (Bertolino et al, 2011a(Bertolino et al, , 2013Vidus-Rosin et al, 2011).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Rabbits killing hares: an invasive mammal modifies native predator–prey dynamics

Cerri

Ferretti

Bertolino

2017

Animal Conservation

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Invasive species management requires practical evidence of the impacts of introduced species over ecosystem structure and functioning. Theoretical ecology and empirical data support the potential of introduced mammals to drive native species to extinction, indeed the majority of practical evidence comes from insular environments, where conditions may differ from the mainland. We analyzed the effects of an introduced lagomorph, the eastern cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus on two native mammals, the European hare Lepus europaeus and the red fox Vulpes vulpes. We used relative abundances collected over 8 years at 30 protected areas in Italy. A generalized linear mixed model was fit to test various hypotheses about the relationships between cottontails, foxes and climatic conditions over the abundance of native hares. In our model, hare and cottontail abundances did not show a negative relationship and we believe that no direct competition occurs between the two species. However, the relationship between fox and hare abundances, positive when cottontails were scarce, became more and more negative as cottontails increased: this supports the hypothesis that indirect dynamics like apparent competition exists between the two lagomorphs. Climatic conditions, expressed through the North Atlantic Oscillation, did not affect the relationship between cottontail and hare abundances. As the impact of parasites on mammal populations is generally climate dependent, we believe that cottontails do not play a direct role in the cycle of parasites affecting hares. Our results provide a clue that an invasive mammal, the eastern cottontail, is modifying the predator-prey relationship between two native species in a non-insular environment. The existence of such dynamics should lead wildlife managers to account for the effect of introduced species in their decision making, directing control activities on cottontails and not on native foxes.

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Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Rabbits killing hares: an invasive mammal modifies native predator–prey dynamics

Cerri

Ferretti

Bertolino

2017

Animal Conservation

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“…Bertolino et al. ). In addition, aggressive competitive interactions are documented between the eastern cottontail, brush rabbit and mountain cottontail in North Dakota, USA (Chapman & Verts , Genoways & Jones ) and between the eastern cottontail and the forest rabbit in expanding savanna and scrub habitats of South America (Chapman & Flux ).…”

Section: Review and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeography, macroecology and species' traits mediate competitive interactions in the orderLagomorpha

2015

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121. In addition to abiotic determinants, biotic factors, including competitive, interspecific 13 interactions, limit species' distributions. Environmental changes in human disturbance, land 14 use and climate are predicted to have widespread impacts on interactions between species, 15 especially in the order Lagomorpha due to the higher latitudes and more extreme 16 environmental conditions they occupy.

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“…We used the pairwise test of Pianka (1973) to calculate the niche overlaps between these two linsang species (as in Jennings and Veron 2011;Bertolino et al 2013;Hillen and Veith 2013;Jennings et al 2013), using EcoSim (Entsminger 2012). Pianka's index varies between 0 (total separation) and 1 (total overlap).…”

Section: Niche Preferences and Overlapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicted distributions, niche comparisons, and conservation status of the spotted linsang (Prionodon pardicolor) and banded linsang (Prionodon linsang)

Jennings¹,

Veron

2014

Mamm Res

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Knowledge of a species' distribution and habitat preferences is of paramount importance when assessing its conservation status. We used accurately recorded occurrence records and ecological niche modeling to predict the distribution of two poorly known small carnivore species that occur in Asia, the spotted linsang (Prionodon pardicolor) and banded linsang (Prionodon linsang), and analyzed their niche overlaps for habitat and elevation. We then assessed the loss of their suitable habitat and estimated the proportion of predicted presence under protected areas. We identified and assessed possible anthropogenic threats, and used our modeling predictions to recommend surveying priorities. Our study confirmed that these two linsangs are geographically separated, with no known overlap of their distributions. Our results indicated that the habitat and elevation niches of these two linsangs are similar: they both occur primarily in evergreen forest and can be found at all elevations up to around 3,000 m. Although these two linsangs might be allopatric due to intense interspecific competition between them, other explanations could explain their distribution patterns, such as biogeographical and ecological barriers. Our findings suggest that these two linsangs might be threatened by the loss, degradation, and fragmentation of tropical evergreen forests. Urgent field studies are thus needed to learn more about their habitat requirements and the impact of anthropogenic threats, including tropical forest disturbance and hunting.

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Habitat use of coexisting introduced eastern cottontail and native European hare

Cited by 28 publications

References 35 publications

Rabbits killing hares: an invasive mammal modifies native predator–prey dynamics

Rabbits killing hares: an invasive mammal modifies native predator–prey dynamics

Biogeography, macroecology and species' traits mediate competitive interactions in the orderLagomorpha

Predicted distributions, niche comparisons, and conservation status of the spotted linsang (Prionodon pardicolor) and banded linsang (Prionodon linsang)

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