Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) use rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) scent marks as territorial marking sites

Monclús, Raquel; Arroyo, M.; Valencia, A.; Miguel, Francisco Javier de

doi:10.1007/s10164-008-0098-8

Cited by 30 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The presence of nutrient‐demanding species on the burrows can be explained by the confounding effect of the changes in the amount of soil nutrients and the high availability of open microsites around the burrows. The nutrient content of the soil might be changed by the excrement of the foxes and also by taking deeper soil layers to the surface of the kurgan (Kurek et al., ; Monclús et al., ). In contrast with grasslands on flat areas where the deeper soil layers (bedrock) generally contain less nutrients and humus, on kurgans the deeper layers have a relatively high nutrient and humus content (Deák, Tóthmérész et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem engineering by foxes is mediated by the landscape context—A case study from steppic burial mounds

Godó

Tóthmérész²,

Valkó

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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In intensively used landscapes, remnant grassland fragments are often restricted to places unsuitable for agricultural cultivation. Such refuges are the ancient burial mounds called “kurgans,” which are typical landscape elements of the Eurasian steppe and forest steppe zone. Due to their hill‐like shape, loose soil structure and undisturbed status kurgans provide proper habitats for burrowing mammals. Accordingly, grassland vegetation on kurgans is often exposed to bioturbation, which can influence the habitat structure and plant species pool. In our study, we explored the effect of fox burrows and landscape context on the habitat properties and vegetation composition of small landscape elements, using kurgans as model habitats. We surveyed the vegetation of fox burrows and that of the surrounding grassland on five kurgans situated in cleared landscapes surrounded by arable lands and five kurgans in complex landscapes surrounded by grazed grasslands. We recorded the percentage cover of vascular plants, the amount of litter, and soil moisture content in twelve 0.5 m × 0.5 m plots per kurgan, in a total of 120 plots. We found that foxes considerably transformed habitat conditions and created microhabitats by changing the soil nutrient availability and reducing total vegetation cover and litter. Several grassland specialist species, mostly grasses (Agropyron cristatum, Elymus hispidus, and Stipa capillata) established in the newly created microhabitats, although the cover of noxious species was also considerable. We found that landscape context influenced the sort of species which could establish on kurgans by affecting the available species pool and soil moisture. Our results revealed that foxes act as ecosystem engineers on kurgans by transforming abiotic and biotic conditions by burrowing. Their engineering activity maintains disturbance‐dependent components of dry grasslands and increases local environmental heterogeneity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem engineering by foxes is mediated by the landscape context—A case study from steppic burial mounds

Godó

Tóthmérész²,

Valkó

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Scats morphologically classified as red fox had the highest probability of being correctly identified, whereas those classified as belonging to European wildcat had the least chance of being correctly identified. The high abundances and marking behaviour may be responsible for the high detection rates of red fox scats (Cavallini, 1994;Monclús et al, 2008;Monterroso et al, 2011) and, hence, a higher probability of a given scat being from red fox.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors affecting the (in)accuracy of mammalian mesocarnivore scat identification in South‐western Europe

et al. 2012

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Research on terrestrial carnivore ecology frequently relies on scat identification and analysis. However, species assignment is commonly based on scat morphology. Potential errors in scat identification are rarely accounted for and might contribute to substantial bias of the final results. Using molecular methods, we evaluate the accuracy of species identification based on morphological characteristics of mammalian mesocarnivore scats collected in two areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Our results revealed that error rates in species assignment of scats based on morphology were highly variable, ranging from 14%, for putative red fox Vulpes vulpes samples, to 88%, for putative wildcats Felis silvestris. The developed models revealed that putative species, season, study area and target species abundance are among the factors involved in identification accuracy. However, the low variability explained suggests that unaccounted factors also had significant effects on accuracy rates. The error rates in scat species assignment constitute a potential source of bias in ecological studies, with serious consequences for the management of threatened species, as unrealistic estimates of status and distribution are prone to occur. Our results suggest that scat identification accuracy rates are circumstance‐specific and therefore should not be transferred or extrapolated. We suggest that scat‐based studies should implement measures (molecular or others) that allow researchers to determine their own circumstance‐specific error rates in scat identification, which should be incorporated in subsequent analyses, ensuring reliable ecological inferences.

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“…The reduced response in the plot with experienced animals (unfenced plot) could be explained by the fact that the control warrens were not an ideal control because predator scats were naturally occurring nearby. This is not unexpected because fox scent marks were more common in areas of higher rabbit density (Monclús et al 2009). Thus, the natural presence of odour in both treatment and control warrens in the unfenced plot could reduce the effect of the treatment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Responses of naïve and experienced European rabbits to predator odour

et al. 2010

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The response of prey species to predator scent has been investigated in many mammalian species; however, there is little information about the responses of European wild rabbits at the population level. Therefore, we conducted a simple experiment to investigate the behavioural response of a rabbit population to native predator cues in the wild. We compared the response to the scent of a predator (red fox) in a wild rabbit population bred in semi-natural conditions and naïve to terrestrial predators with the response of a population in a similar environment where terrestrial predators were present. The response to predators was based on rabbit abundance, inferred from pellet counts and measured by the defecation rate per day (DRD). Our results indicate that rabbits responded to the odour of fox faeces in the treatment warrens, resulting in a lower DRD. The main anti-predator behaviour observed was spatial avoidance (warren abandonment), which seemed to be more accentuated for rabbits who had not previously had contact with foxes in the plot where terrestrial predators were excluded. In both the fenced and the unfenced plot, the differences in the effect of the predator odour between the control and treatment warrens disappeared after cessation of treatment, suggesting a flexible and adaptive behaviour of rabbits to predator cues.

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Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) use rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) scent marks as territorial marking sites

Cited by 30 publications

References 24 publications

Ecosystem engineering by foxes is mediated by the landscape context—A case study from steppic burial mounds

Ecosystem engineering by foxes is mediated by the landscape context—A case study from steppic burial mounds

Factors affecting the (in)accuracy of mammalian mesocarnivore scat identification in South‐western Europe

Responses of naïve and experienced European rabbits to predator odour

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