Abstract
Fire is a significant disruptive agent in various ecosystems around the world. It can affect the availability of resources in a given area, modulating the interaction between competing species. We studied the diet of the culpeo fox (Lycalopex culpaeus) and cougar (Puma concolor) for two consecutive years in a protected area of southern–central Chile which was affected by a wildfire. Significant differences were observed in the dietary pattern between the two species, showing their trophic segregation. In the two years of the study, the predominant prey for cougar was an exotic species, the European hare (Lepus europaeus), implying a simplification of its trophic spectrum with respect to that reported in other latitudes. The ecological consequences related to this scenario are discussed.
Highlights
Physical disturbances caused by fire are one of the main modifying agents in natural ecosystems
The changes that forest fires cause in regard to the availability of resources can alter the dynamics of specie' interactions by dividing the use of resources (Schoener, 1974)
Reports from the same biogeographical area show differences in the dietary range of the culpeo fox and the cougar the (Rau and Jiménez, 2002; Zúñiga and Fuenzalida, 2016), revealing a simplification in the local food supply. These differences could be attributed in the first term to the structural change in the prey assemblage in the study area due to the fire, which would reduce abundance and the incorporation of exotic species
Summary
Physical disturbances caused by fire are one of the main modifying agents in natural ecosystems. The changes that forest fires cause in regard to the availability of resources can alter the dynamics of specie' interactions by dividing the use of resources (Schoener, 1974) In such severe disturbances, species must find alternative mechanisms of co–use of the resources to make their coexistence possible in this new ecological context (Wiens, 1977). In the Southern Hemisphere, and in South America, the effect of forest fires on the diet of syntopic predators is largely unknown. This is of special importance for their conservation considering the low adaptability of the vegetation in this biogeographical area to high– severity fires (Montenegro et al, 2004). Consequent changes to the composition of local fauna (Johnston and Odum, 1956) as an outcome of the recovering process in the burned areas are probable
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