Carnivore Niche Partitioning in a Human Landscape

Abstract

AbstractTo minimize competitive overlap, carnivores modify one of their critical niche axes: space, time, or resources. However, we currently lack rules for how carnivore communities operate in human-dominated landscapes. We simultaneously quantified overlap in the critical niche axes of a simple carnivore community-an apex carnivore (Puma concolor), a dominant mesocarnivore (Lycalopex culpaeus), and a subordinate small carnivore (Lycalopex griseus)-in a human landscape featuring pastoralists and semidomestic carnivores (i.e., dogs, Canis familiaris). We found that dominant species had strong negative effects on the space use of subordinate ones, which ultimately created space for subordinate small carnivores. Humans and dogs were strictly diurnal, whereas the native carnivore community was nocturnal and exhibited high temporal overlap. Dietary overlap was high among the native carnivores, but dogs were trophically decoupled, largely because of human food subsidies. Our results show that in landscapes with evident human presence, temporal and dietary partitioning among native carnivores can be limited, leaving space as the most important axis to be partitioned among carnivores. We believe that these findings-the first to simultaneously assess all three critical niche axes among competing carnivores and humans and their associated species (i.e., domesticated carnivores)-are transferable to other carnivore communities in human-modified landscapes.