Spatiotemporal activity of the pine marten Martes martes: Insights from an island population

Abstract

Behavioral interference and interspecific competition shape the spatiotemporal behavior of carnivores, where intra-guild predation has been recorded as a strategy to limit competition. Very often, disentangling the effect of intra-guild effects from other ecological processes is challenging, if not impossible. This work aimed to assess the spatiotemporal behavior of the pine marten Martes martes in an island ecosystem without any intra-guild predation. Using an intensive cameratrap survey on Elba Island, Italy, we estimated occupancy, detection probability, and locomotor rhythms of the species. The pine marten occurred throughout the study area, showing a tendency to avoid urban areas during the high tourist season. Occupancy was higher in colder months and lowered in autumn, following opposite fluctuations of recorded human presence. Conversely, the detection probability remained low throughout the year, confirming the pine marten elusiveness. With other studies conducted in sympatry with other carnivores or predators, Elba Island martens showed locomotor ground activity mostly at dawn and dusk throughout the year, with an increasing diurnal locomotor activity in spring, when cubs are present. The spatiotemporal behavior of the pine marten in Elba island did show little variation across seasons. It was similar to those reported where potential predators were present, suggesting the intra-guild predation not playing a significant role in shaping the spatiotemporal activity of pine martens. K E Y W O R D S activity rhythms, island ecosystem, Martes martes, occupancy modeling, wildlife cameratrapping 1 | INTRODUCTION Behavioral interference and interspecific competition represent two forces shaping the spatiotemporal behavior of many species (e.g., Ferretti et al., 2011; Garcia-Olaechea & Emiliano Mori and Ettore Fedele contributed equally to this work.

Interactions between carnivore species: limited spatiotemporal partitioning between apex predator and smaller carnivores in a Mediterranean protected area

“…Furthermore, the results agree with temporal activity patterns reported in the literature (e.g., wolf: [ 18 , 91 ], red fox: [ 14 , 24 ], badger: [ 45 , 95 ], Martes spp. : [ 64 , 94 ]). Nocturnal activity patterns may reflect a common response of our study species to long-term coexistence with humans in an anthropised landscape.…”

Anomalous coloration in European pine marten Martes martes in Elba Island, Central Italy

“…The pine marten is the only wild carnivore species present on the island; however, the presence of domestic and feral cats on the island does not allow us to consider Elba Island a competitor‐free area. Currently available information about pine marten on Elba Island covers the origin, distribution, feeding habits, and spatiotemporal activity of the species (De Marinis & Masseti, 1993 , 1995 ; Mori et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Currently available information about pine marten on Elba Island covers the origin, distribution, feeding habits, and spatiotemporal activity of the species (De Marinis & Masseti, 1993Mori et al, 2021).…”

An anthropogenic landscape reduces the influence of climate conditions and moonlight on carnivore activity

“…Both martens exhibit great adaptive plasticity and inhabit a wide range of habitats in most of Europe (Croitor and Brugal 2010 ; Virgos et al 2012 ). However, in contrast to stone martens, pine martens predominantly avoid urban and high human disturbance areas on the spatial scale (Balestrieri et al 2019 ; Mergey et al 2011 ; Mori et al 2022 ). In north-eastern Poland, both species occupy almost separate habitat niches—pine martens occur in deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests, while stone martens inhabit developed areas and human settlements (Wereszczuk and Zalewski 2015 ).…”