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Testing mechanistic explanations for mammalian predator responses to habitat edges

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Abstract

Increased predator activity along habitat edges (the edge effect) is often documented in the temperate zone, but earlier studies have rarely been able to explicitly test the suggested mechanisms underlining this phenomenon. In this study, we measured the distribution of mammalian predators by scent stations and their main prey (rodents) in four types of landscape elements corresponding to an edge gradient between two habitat types; grassland and forest. We found a contrasting pattern in carnivore activities between years. Whereas carnivores did not exhibit a significant occurrence along the forest–grassland edge in the first year with low prey abundance, they were more likely to be detected along habitat edges in the subsequent year with high prey abundance. Our results do not suggest that the increased activity of carnivores at habitat edges arises as a consequence of predator overflow from higher quality habitat through the edge into lower quality habitat, but showed that most predator species focus their activity specifically to the edge structure. On the other hand, our data do not provide straightforward support for the hypothesis that predator edge preferences are caused by a spatial gradient in carnivores’ main prey—rodents.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Šálek M.E., Mrštný L., Wonke O., and Kukač P. for their help with field work. This study was supported by the grant of the Czech Ministry of Education (MŠMT 6007665801, no. 1P05OC078 and no. 0021620828), the Research Aim of the Institute of Systems Biology and Ecology AV0Z60870520 and AV0Z60930519, Internal grant agency of Czech University of Environmental Sciences CIGA 42110/1313/3108, and the Grant Agency of the CR GAČR 524/06/0687. T. A. and J. K. were partially supported by the Research Centrum project no. LC06073 and the grant of the Czech Ministry of Environment (VAV sp2d3-60-08).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Science, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 1176, 165 21, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Jana Svobodová & Martina Koubová

  2. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Sciences, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 44, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Jakub Kreisinger & Tomáš Albrecht

  3. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Martin Šálek

  4. Institute of Systems Biology and Ecology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Sádkách 7, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Martin Šálek

  5. Institute of Vertebrate Biology v.v.i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Květná 8, 603 65, Brno, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Albrecht

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  1. Jana Svobodová
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  2. Jakub Kreisinger
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Correspondence to Jana Svobodová.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

Electronic supplementary material

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ESM 1

Visits of individual species to particular habitats. In total, 120 scent stations were randomly distributed within four habitat types (southern Bohemia in 2006 and 2007) (DOC 44 kb)

ESM 2

Numbers of rodents captured along edge gradients in southern Bohemia, 2006 and 2007. In each habitat type, eight lines of 35 traps were installed (DOC 29 kb)

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Svobodová, J., Kreisinger, J., Šálek, M. et al. Testing mechanistic explanations for mammalian predator responses to habitat edges. Eur J Wildl Res 57, 467–474 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-010-0455-0

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