Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Drivers of activity patterns of two sympatric skunks (Carnivora: Mephitidae)

Drivers of activity patterns of two sympatric skunks (Carnivora: Mephitidae) Temporal niche partitioning between ecologically similar species may decrease interspecific competition and facilitate their coexistence, but the temporal interactions between sympatric skunks are still poorly understood. Furthermore, different interacting factors to explain activity patterns and their role in species coexistence in the temporal niche have been overlooked. Using camera traps over 2 years, we evaluated the temporal segregation between Conepatus leuconotus and Spilogale pygmaea and the influence of biotic, abiotic, and anthropogenic factors in shaping their daily and monthly activity patterns in a seasonal tropical forest at the Mexican Pacific slope. Both skunks selected the nocturnal and crepuscular periods, with strong avoidance of daylight hours. We observed partial temporal segregation between species without significant seasonal variation. Spilogale pygmaea was most active when the activity of C. leuconotus decreased, suggesting that S. pygmaea adopts a temporal avoidance strategy to decrease the potential for direct encounters with the dominant species. We found that skunk activity patterns are also determined by the activity of prey and native and exotic predators, as well as relative humidity, precipitation, cloud cover, and night length. Our results showed that these factors differently affect daily and monthly activity between seasons and their effect varies in each species. This study provides evidence that multiple extrinsic factors play an important role in shaping the daily and monthly activity patterns of both skunks and, of course, affect their temporal niche partitioning, possibly promoting coexistence in a seasonal tropical environment. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Mammalogy Oxford University Press

Drivers of activity patterns of two sympatric skunks (Carnivora: Mephitidae)

Download PDF
15 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/oxford-university-press/drivers-of-activity-patterns-of-two-sympatric-skunks-carnivora-JMxtlLcgvQ

References (73)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Mammalogists, www.mammalogy.org.
ISSN
0022-2372
eISSN
1545-1542
DOI
10.1093/jmammal/gyac038
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Temporal niche partitioning between ecologically similar species may decrease interspecific competition and facilitate their coexistence, but the temporal interactions between sympatric skunks are still poorly understood. Furthermore, different interacting factors to explain activity patterns and their role in species coexistence in the temporal niche have been overlooked. Using camera traps over 2 years, we evaluated the temporal segregation between Conepatus leuconotus and Spilogale pygmaea and the influence of biotic, abiotic, and anthropogenic factors in shaping their daily and monthly activity patterns in a seasonal tropical forest at the Mexican Pacific slope. Both skunks selected the nocturnal and crepuscular periods, with strong avoidance of daylight hours. We observed partial temporal segregation between species without significant seasonal variation. Spilogale pygmaea was most active when the activity of C. leuconotus decreased, suggesting that S. pygmaea adopts a temporal avoidance strategy to decrease the potential for direct encounters with the dominant species. We found that skunk activity patterns are also determined by the activity of prey and native and exotic predators, as well as relative humidity, precipitation, cloud cover, and night length. Our results showed that these factors differently affect daily and monthly activity between seasons and their effect varies in each species. This study provides evidence that multiple extrinsic factors play an important role in shaping the daily and monthly activity patterns of both skunks and, of course, affect their temporal niche partitioning, possibly promoting coexistence in a seasonal tropical environment.

Journal

Journal of Mammalogy – Oxford University Press

Published: May 4, 2022

Keywords: Conepatus leuconotus; daily activity; deciduous tropical forest; GLMM; monthly activity; seasonal variation; Spilogale pygmaea; temporal niche partitioning; actividad diaria; actividad mensual; bosque tropical caducifolio; Conepatus leuconotus; Modelos Mixtos Lineales Generalizados (MMLG); partición de nicho temporal; Spilogale pygmaea; variación estacional

There are no references for this article.