Abstract
Knowledge of space use is central to understand animals’ role in ecosystems. The raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides is considered as one of the most influential alien mesopredator species in Europe, having the potential to cause loss of local biodiversity and act as a vector for zoonotic diseases. We collared 12 animals to study their home range and habitat use in two areas with different management regimes in Estonia: in a protected natural area and in an intensively managed area. From May to October raccoon dogs inhabiting the natural area had considerably smaller home ranges compared to the managed area, 193.3ha±37.3SD and 391.9ha±292.9SD, respectively. This result contradicts somewhat earlier findings in other European raccoon dog populations, where the home range sizes in natural areas in summer and autumn period have usually been larger compared to managed areas. In both study areas raccoon dogs preferred watersides, where amphibians and other semi-aquatic prey are abundant, to other habitats available in their home ranges. We also studied movements of a raccoon dog pair in the managed study area in winter period. Due to mild weather conditions during the study period, raccoon dogs changed their resting sites quite often, covering a relatively large 599 ha area from November 2012 to January 2013, indicating the absence of usual winter lethargy during the mild winters.
Highlights
Raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides is an alien species in Europe, introduced from Far East of Russia to many regions in Eurasia since 1929 and to the current territory of the European Union since 1947 [1,2]
Studies from Finland and Germany have demonstrated that size of the area used by a raccoon dog depends on habitat richness: raccoon dogs tend to have smaller home ranges in areas with a variety of small habitat patches [18,20,23,26]
Kauhala et al [26] showed that in Finland in areas dominated by spruce forest, home ranges of raccoon dogs were twice the size compared to the areas comprised of meadows, mixed forests and gardens
Summary
Raccoon dog Nyctereutes procyonoides is an alien species in Europe, introduced from Far East of Russia to many regions in Eurasia since 1929 and to the current territory of the European Union since 1947 [1,2]. The raccoon dog is considered among the most invasive alien species in Europe [4], having the potential to cause loss of native biodiversity, and economic and health problems [5]. In Europe, along with the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), raccoon dog is one of the main vectors of zoonotic diseases such as rabies, alveolar echinococcosis and sarcoptic mange, the first two being highly hazardous to human health [10].
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