Molina-Bernabeu Sara, López-Iborra Germán M
Departamento de Ecología, Universidad de Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Aug 6;14(16):2288. doi: 10.3390/ani14162288.
There is growing concern about effectively controlling cat populations due to their impact on biodiversity, especially on islands. To plan this management, it is essential to know the cat population size, sterilization rates, and space they use. Small inhabited islands can have very high cat densities; thus, this study aimed to evaluate cat density and home range on a small tourist island in the Spanish Mediterranean. Surveys in the urban area identified individual cats using a photographic catalog, and camera trapping was conducted in the scrubland area. GPS devices were fitted on three urban cats. The overall cat density was estimated to be 308 cats/km, varying between the urban area (1084 cats/km) and the uninhabited scrubland (27 cats/km). Urban cats had smaller average home ranges (0.38 ha or 1.25 ha, depending on the estimation method) compared to scrubland cats (9.53 ha). Penetration of scrubland cats into the urban area was not detected. These results indicate that the urban area acts as a source of cats for the scrubland. Although the total sterilization rate was high (90.3%), the large cat population implies that the density would take over a decade to decrease to acceptable levels. Therefore, complementary measures for managing this cat population are recommended.
由于猫对生物多样性的影响，尤其是对岛屿生物多样性的影响，人们越来越关注如何有效控制猫的数量。为了规划这种管理，了解猫的种群规模、绝育率以及它们所使用的空间至关重要。有人居住的小岛可能猫的密度非常高；因此，本研究旨在评估西班牙地中海一个小型旅游岛屿上的猫密度和活动范围。在市区通过使用照片目录识别个体猫，并在灌木丛地区进行相机诱捕。为三只市区的猫安装了GPS设备。估计猫的总体密度为每平方公里308只，市区（每平方公里1084只）和无人居住的灌木丛地区（每平方公里27只）之间存在差异。与灌木丛地区的猫（9.53公顷）相比，市区的猫平均活动范围较小（根据估计方法不同，为0.38公顷或1.25公顷）。未检测到灌木丛地区的猫进入市区。这些结果表明市区是灌木丛地区猫的来源地。尽管总绝育率很高（90.3%）,但庞大的猫种群意味着密度要下降到可接受水平需要十多年时间。因此，建议采取补充措施来管理这一猫种群。
