Ecological correlates of the spatial co-occurrence of sympatric mammalian carnivores worldwide

Courtney L Davis; Lindsey N Rich; Zach J Farris; Marcella J Kelly; Mario S Di Bitetti; Yamil Di Blanco; Sebastian Albanesi; Mohammad S Farhadinia; Navid Gholikhani; Sandra Hamel; Bart J Harmsen; Claudia Wultsch; Mamadou D Kane; Quinton Martins; Asia J Murphy; Robin Steenweg; Sunarto Sunarto; Atieh Taktehrani; Kanchan Thapa; Jody M Tucker; Jesse Whittington; Febri A Widodo; Nigel G Yoccoz; David A W Miller

doi:10.1111/ele.13124

Ecological correlates of the spatial co-occurrence of sympatric mammalian carnivores worldwide

Ecol Lett. 2018 Sep;21(9):1401-1412. doi: 10.1111/ele.13124. Epub 2018 Jul 17.

Authors

Courtney L Davis^{1

2}, Lindsey N Rich³, Zach J Farris^{4

5}, Marcella J Kelly⁴, Mario S Di Bitetti^{6

7

8}, Yamil Di Blanco^{6

7}, Sebastian Albanesi⁹, Mohammad S Farhadinia^{10

11}, Navid Gholikhani¹², Sandra Hamel¹³, Bart J Harmsen^{14

15}, Claudia Wultsch^{4

14

16}, Mamadou D Kane¹⁷, Quinton Martins^{18

19}, Asia J Murphy^{1

2}, Robin Steenweg²⁰, Sunarto Sunarto²¹, Atieh Taktehrani¹², Kanchan Thapa^{4

22}, Jody M Tucker²³, Jesse Whittington²⁴, Febri A Widodo²¹, Nigel G Yoccoz¹³, David A W Miller¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
² Intercollege Degree Program in Ecology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
³ Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁴ Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA.
⁵ Department of Health and Exercise Science, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, 28608, USA.
⁶ Instituto de Biología Subtropical (IBS) - nodo Iguazú, Universidad Nacional de Misiones and CONICET, Bertoni 85, 3370, Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina.
⁷ Asociación Civil Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico (CeIBA), Bertoni 85, 3370, Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina.
⁸ Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Bertoni 124, 3380, Eldorado, Misiones, Argentina.
⁹ Fundación ProYungas, Perú, 1180, (4107), Yerba BuenaTucumán, Argentina.
¹⁰ Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney, Abingdon, OX13 5QL, UK.
¹¹ Future4Leopards Foundation, No.4, Nour 2, Mahallati, Tehran, Iran.
¹² Iranian Cheetah Society, PO Box 14155-8549, Tehran, Iran.
¹³ Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, 9037, Tromsø, Norway.
¹⁴ Panthera, New York, NY, 10018, USA.
¹⁵ University of Belize, Environmental Research Institute (ERI), Price Centre Road, PO box 340, Belmopan, Belize.
¹⁶ Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, 10024, USA.
¹⁷ Senegalese National Parks Directorate, Dakar, Senegal.
¹⁸ The Cape Leopard Trust, Cape Town, South Africa.
¹⁹ Audubon Canyon Ranch, PO Box 1195, Glen Ellen, CA, USA.
²⁰ Species at Risk, Resource Management, Alberta Environment and Parks, Grande Prairie, AB, Canada.
²¹ World Wildlife Fund, Jakarta, Indonesia.
²² World Wildlife Fund, Conservation Science Unit, Baluwatar, Nepal.
²³ U.S. Forest Service, Sequoia National Forest, Porterville, CA, 93257, USA.
²⁴ Parks Canada, Banff National Park Resource Conservation, Banff, AB, Canada.

PMID: 30019409
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13124

Abstract

The composition of local mammalian carnivore communities has far-reaching effects on terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. To better understand how carnivore communities are structured, we analysed camera trap data for 108 087 trap days across 12 countries spanning five continents. We estimate local probabilities of co-occurrence among 768 species pairs from the order Carnivora and evaluate how shared ecological traits correlate with probabilities of co-occurrence. Within individual study areas, species pairs co-occurred more frequently than expected at random. Co-occurrence probabilities were greatest for species pairs that shared ecological traits including similar body size, temporal activity pattern and diet. However, co-occurrence decreased as compared to other species pairs when the pair included a large-bodied carnivore. Our results suggest that a combination of shared traits and top-down regulation by large carnivores shape local carnivore communities globally.

Keywords: Camera trap; ecological traits; global assessment; interspecific interactions; local community structure; spatial co-occurrence.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Carnivora*
Ecology*
Ecosystem*
Sympatry

Associated data

Dryad/10.5061/dryad.7f9j57n