Temporal partitioning by felids, dholes and their potential prey in northern Laos

Abstract

Temporal partitioning can allow sympatric carnivores to coexist, especially if overlap of other resources is high. Using camera trap data from 2013 to 2017, we investigated the temporal partitioning of a community of wild felids and a canid in Nam Et–Phou Louey National Protected Area, Laos, to determine the extent to which temporal avoidance might be facilitating coexistence of similarly sized carnivores. We also investigated temporal overlap of these carnivore species and their presumed main prey, to determine if their activity is likely most influenced by their prey or potential competitors. The dhole (Cuon alpinus) and clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), the two largest carnivores, had low temporal overlap, and activity appeared to be synchronized with the main prey for dhole, but not clouded leopard. Thus, it was possible that clouded leopard used temporal partitioning to coexist with dhole. The temporal overlap of Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) was high with clouded leopard and moderate with dhole, and overall appeared to be influenced most by its presumed prey species, rather than by its potential competitors. The two small felids had the least temporal overlap between any species, as the marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) was primarily diurnal whereas the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) was primarily nocturnal. Given that the two small felids reportedly have similar diets consisting of small rodents and birds, their temporal partitioning is likely to help facilitate their coexistence. For carnivore species in northern Laos that are most similar in body size and diet, temporal partitioning is likely to be an important mechanism of coexistence. Otherwise, temporal patterns appear to be synchronized with their main prey.

Spatial and temporal overlaps of top predators: Dhole, tiger and leopard, and their potential preys in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand

“…The study results from the spatialtemporal separation of dhole and clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), the largest carnivore in Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area in Laos, showed the least temporal overlap. It also revealed that dhole had significant temporal-overlap activities with potential wild prey (Rasphone et al 2020). Vinitpornsawan and Fuller (2020) studied the spatialtemporal utilization of habitat of tiger, leopard, dhole, and their preys in the Western Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary during 2010-2012 using camera traps.…”

Small cats in big trouble? Diet, activity, and habitat use of jungle cats and leopard cats in threatened dry deciduous forests, Cambodia

“…activity overlap, biomass consumed, camera-trapping, dietary overlap, Felis chaus, open dry deciduous forests, Prionailurus bengalensis, Southeast Asia, species interactions, two-species occupancy modeling Alternatively, when overlap levels of spatial niche and food resources are high, temporal partitioning can occur, whereby subordinate species adjust their activity patterns to reduce encounters and facilitate coexistence with a dominant competitor. Low overlap of activity patterns has been shown to exist between small felid species in Southeast Asia (Kamler, Inthapanya, et al, 2020;Lynam et al, 2013;McCarthy et al, 2015;Mukherjee et al, 2019;Rasphone et al, 2020) and in other regions of the world (Leonard et al, 2020;Lucherini et al, 2009;Nagy-Reis et al, 2019), indicating this strategy also is used to enable coexistence between similarly sized felids.…”

“…l Allayarov (1964) (includes contents from 6 stomachs). almost strictly nocturnal (Grassman et al, 2005;Kamler, Inthapanya, et al, 2020;Lynam et al, 2013;Mukherjee et al, 2019;Rasphone et al, 2020), which could facilitate temporal partitioning between these species if jungle cats are more diurnal. Jungle cats are considerably taller than leopard cats (Francis, 2019) and twice the body weight; consequently, jungle cats should behaviorally dominate leopard cats, although their interactions have not been studied.…”

Density trends of wild felids in northern Laos

“…consisted of two large felids, tiger (Panthera tigris) and leopard (P. pardus), together with the "standard four" medium and small felids: clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii), marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata), and leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis; Duckworth et al 2014). Several studies have examined the mechanisms that allow such a diverse felid community to coexist, and have concluded that temporal partitioning and dietary partitioning likely help to facilitate their coexistence (Mukherjee et al 2019;Nagy-Reis et al 2019;Kamler et al 2020;Rasphone et al 2020). Additionally, smaller felid species may sometimes, but not always, behaviorally avoid larger felid species (McDougal et al 1988;Horne et al 2009;Foster et al 2013;Rostro-García et al 2015, 2021, thereby further facilitating their coexistence.…”