Abstract
Our study aimed to investigate seasonal variation in the activity of arboreal and semi-arboreal mammals and investigate their overlap in temporal activity, as well temporal shifts in activity because of behavioural interference. In our camera trapping study in a fragmented landscape in south-eastern Australia, a total of ten arboreal and semi-arboreal species were found, with 35,671 independent observations recorded over 6517 camera trap nights. All species were found to be nocturnal; however, a notable number of daytime observations were made for several species (i.e. brown antechinus, Antechinus stuartii; sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps; bush rat, Rattus fuscipes; brown rat, Rattus norvegicus). Seasonal variations in diel activity were observed through an increase in crepuscular activity in spring and summer for antechinus, sugar gliders, brown rats, brushtail possums, Trichosurus vulpecula and ringtail possums, Pseudocheirus peregrinus. Diel activity overlap between species was high, that is 26/28 species comparisons had overlap coefficients (Δ) > 0.75. The species pair with the least amount of overlap was between southern bobucks, Trichosurus cunninghami and brown antechinus (Δ4 = 0.66). The species pair with the most overlap was between the native sugar glider and introduced brown rat (Δ4 = 0.93). When comparing the activity of sugar gliders in sites with low and high abundance of brown rats, sugar gliders appear to shift their activity relative to the brown rats. Similarly, behavioural interference was also observed between antechinus and sugar gliders, and when comparing sites of low and high abundance of sugar glider, antechinus had a shift in activity. Our work provides some of the first quantification of temporal patterns for several of the species in this study, and the first for a community of arboreal and semi-arboreal mammals. Our results indicate that some shifts in behaviour are potentially occurring in response to behavioural interference, allowing for coexistence by means of temporal partitioning.
Highlights
Animal behaviour as a function of activity across a 24 h period is fundamental to an animal’s survival and fitness, as it enables an animal to obtain resources such as food, as well as mates, all while avoiding competitors, predators, and Handling editor: Frank E
Our study offers a unique opportunity to investigate this effect of behavioural interference, as aggression and territorial behaviours for select species were observed in our study
Our study involved a long-term camera trap survey using selfie traps placed in trees, in a fragmented landscape in south-eastern Australia, to collect data on arboreal species ranging from 40 g eastern pygmy possums, Cercartetus nanus to 4.2 kg southern bobucks, Trichosurus cunninghami
Summary
Animal behaviour as a function of activity across a 24 h period is fundamental to an animal’s survival and fitness, as it enables an animal to obtain resources such as food, as well as mates, all while avoiding competitors, predators, and Handling editor: Frank E. Diurnal, crepuscular or cathemeral (Bennie et al 2014) These patterns of activity vary among species (Gómez et al 2005; Caravaggi et al 2018; Vazquez et al 2019; Mori et al 2021) but vary across latitudes and seasons (Ikeda et al 2016). Investigating species’ niche differentiation highlights the capacity of species to coexist which is important for biodiversity conservation, in the context of understanding the effect of anthropogenic disturbances such as introduced species (Harrington et al 2009; HilleRisLambers et al 2012; Carscadden et al 2020; Pascual-Rico et al 2020; Gaudiano et al 2021; Andreoni et al 2021)
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