Grabowski Kathryn L, Phillips Erin M, Gaynor Kaitlyn M
School of Geography and the Environment University of Oxford Oxford UK.
Department of Biology McGill University Montréal Québec Canada.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Feb 15;14(2):e10965. doi: 10.1002/ece3.10965. eCollection 2024 Feb.
Competition drives community composition and structure in many ecosystems. Spatial and temporal niche partitioning, in which competing species divide the environment in space or time, are mechanisms that may allow for coexistence among ecologically similar species. Such division of resources may be especially important for carnivores in African savannas, which support diverse carnivore assemblages. We used camera traps to explore patterns of spatial and temporal niche partitioning among four mesocarnivore species in Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park: large-spotted genet (), African civet (), honey badger () and marsh mongoose (). We applied a multispecies occupancy model to evaluate spatial partitioning among mesocarnivores and to quantify the environmental factors that affect species-specific habitat use, including relative lion () activity. We also analyzed the temporal activity overlap of the four focal species. We identified species-specific habitat covariates that influenced detection probabilities but found no evidence of spatial or temporal partitioning among mesocarnivores in the study system. Indeed, we found some evidence for spatial co-occurrence between two of our focal species: African civet and marsh mongoose. There may be limited competition among mesocarnivores in this system, perhaps due to niche and diet differentiation among these species and an abundance of resources. While we found limited evidence that lion activity impacts mesocarnivores, ongoing monitoring of intraguild interactions is vital as apex predator populations recover in the system. This study adds to a growing understanding of African mesocarnivore ecology and highlights the importance of understanding these dynamics for effective multispecies conservation and restoration.
竞争驱动着许多生态系统中的群落组成和结构。空间和时间生态位划分，即竞争物种在空间或时间上划分环境，是可能使生态相似物种共存的机制。这种资源划分对于非洲稀树草原上的食肉动物可能尤为重要，因为那里有多样的食肉动物群落。我们使用相机陷阱来探究莫桑比克戈龙戈萨国家公园中四种中型食肉动物物种之间的空间和时间生态位划分模式：大斑灵猫、非洲灵猫、蜜獾和水獭猫。我们应用多物种占用模型来评估中型食肉动物之间的空间划分，并量化影响特定物种栖息地利用的环境因素，包括狮子的相对活动情况。我们还分析了这四种重点物种的时间活动重叠情况。我们确定了影响探测概率的特定物种栖息地协变量，但在研究系统中未发现中型食肉动物之间存在空间或时间划分的证据。事实上，我们发现了一些证据表明我们的两种重点物种：非洲灵猫和水獭猫之间存在空间共存。在这个系统中，中型食肉动物之间的竞争可能有限，这或许是由于这些物种之间的生态位和饮食差异以及资源丰富。虽然我们发现有限的证据表明狮子活动会影响中型食肉动物，但随着该系统中顶级捕食者种群的恢复，持续监测种内相互作用至关重要。这项研究增进了我们对非洲中型食肉动物生态学的理解，并强调了理解这些动态对于有效的多物种保护和恢复的重要性。
