Interactions Between an Apex Predator and Mesopredators Across a Landscape with Human Interference

ZANÓN MARTÍNEZ, JUAN I.; SEOANE, JAVIER; KELLY, MARCELLA J.; SARASOLA, JOSÉ HERNÁN; TRAVAINI, ALEJANDRO

BULLETIN ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

Wiley

Lugar: LCC; Año: 2022 vol. 103 p. 1 - 3

0012-9623

Human activities have populated the planet with domestic animals like live-stock while also eliminating wild species that could conflict with them. We inves-tigated factors affecting predator occurrence in semiarid landscapes of central Argentina and tested for evidence of mesopredator release at large scales. Our study region has a few, small protected areas interspersed within a mosaic of live-stock ranches and game hunting grounds. We hypothesized that mesopredators would avoid spatial and temporal overlap with the apex predator, the puma, but that human activities (i.e., cattle raising and trophy hunting) would dampen top- down effects and mediate habitat use of smaller carnivores.