When is a wild-living cat a wildcat? Using carnivore guild interactions to decipher ecological function

野生猫科动物什么时候才算野猫？

• 批准号: 2902752
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Aberdeen
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2902752
• 关键词: When; wild; living; cat; wildcat

Species partition resources in space and time, making coexistence possible. Nevertheless, intraguild aggression and interspecific killings are known to widely occur, especially amongst carnivores. How this affects coexistence is poorly known.Scotland's woodland predators inhabit both commercial and semi-natural woodlands. Field voles dominate the diet of pine martens and red foxes, and likely wildcats. When field vole populations crash, as is typical every 3-4 years, predators must rely on alternative prey, potentially leading to changes in their spatiotemporal activity and competitive interactions. Wildcats and pine martens have the unique potential to exploit arboreal prey during such crashes, while martens and foxes are facultative frugivores. All species may increasingly exploit deer carrion (a by-product of forest restoration).With the first reintroduction of captive bred wildcats scheduled for this summer, I will seize the opportunity presented by this change to predator guild communities to investigate how predators adapt during periods of low prey abundance and how this affects their spatiotemporal activity and competitive interactions.Wildcats were once widespread across Great Britain but declined significantly, largely due to persecution, hunting, habitat loss, and hybridisation with domestic cats. Now restricted to northern Scotland in very low numbers, Saving Wildcats aims to prevent their extinction by releasing captive-bred wildcats in the Cairngorms Connect (CC) area. The CC project aims to enhance habitats, species, and ecological processes across a vast area within the Cairngorms National Park, thus the captive-release programme fits well within these goals.Clashindarroch and Angus Glens are two Scottish Wildcat Action (SWA) Priority Areas dominated by forestry plantation largely managed by FLS. Their wildcat populations are strongly introgressed with domestic cats. How these cats differ functionally from less hybridised "pure" wildcats and how forestry practices should account for this is unknown. The managed hybridised populations in Clashindarroch and Angus Glens alongside the reintroduction of captive-bred wildcats in the CC area offers a unique comparative opportunity to understand ecological processes of coexistence, space use and prey resources in Scotland's predator community. The comparison of this pre-existing introgressed wildcat population with a new introduced population of high genetic quality offers a unique quasi-experimental opportunity to investigate the path to establishment for captive-bred wildcats.This also allows exploration of key questions about the role wildcats play in the predator community and wider ecosystem. In particular, it will be crucial to understand whether the genetic provenance of wildcats has any bearing on how, and whether, they integrate into the existing predator community. Understanding the functional differences and similarities between wildcats and hybridised cats should enable better protection of wildcats, helping to determine which individuals are legally protected. Investigating the spatial and behavioural responses of wildcats to forest management in plantations, alongside understanding key features of plantation habitat for wildcat breeding ecology, will facilitate both conservation and land management organisations, such as FLS, to implement necessary protective measures.With these aims in mind, the objectives of this project are:1. Quantify spatial and dietary overlap between introduced captive-bred wildcats and the wider Cairngorms predator community with a specific focus on spatiotemporal partitioning of prey resources and habitat.2. Compare diet and habitat use/selection between captive-bred and hybridised free-living wildcats, and determine whether these characteristics converge as the captive-bred wildcats learn to cope with competitive interactions and changing prey supply.3. Investigate the spatial and behavioural responses

物种在时空中分配资源，使共存成为可能。然而，众所周知，尤其是在食肉动物中，人们已知发生了侵略和种间杀戮。这对共存的影响是鲜为人知的。苏格兰的林地捕食者居住在商业和半天然林地。田间田鼠占主导地位的松木和红狐，以及可能的野猫。当田野vole群体崩溃（通常每3 - 4年一次）时，捕食者必须依靠替代​​猎物，可能导致其时空活动和竞争性相互作用的变化。野猫队和松木马顿人具有在此类撞车事故中利用树木猎物的独特潜力，而马滕斯和狐狸则是兼职的节水。所有物种都可能越来越多地利用鹿腐肉（森林修复的副产品）。与计划于今年夏天计划的被俘虏的育野猫的首次重新引入，我将抓住这种变化所带来的机会，向捕食者社区提供了这种机会，以调查掠夺者在低猎物中如何适应低猎物的时间，这会影响其较高的互动范围，并且跨越了这种差异，但这种差异越来越多。值得注意的是，主要是由于迫害，狩猎，栖息地丧失和与家猫的杂交。现在，仅限于苏格兰北部的数量很少，节省野猫的目的是通过在Cairngorms Connect（CC）地区释放圈养的饲养野猫来防止其灭绝。 CC项目旨在增强Cairngorms国家公园内广阔区域的栖息地，物种和生态过程，因此，圈养释放计划非常适合这些目标。Clashindarroch和Angus Glens是两个苏格兰野生野生野生野外动作（SWA）优先区域，该地区由FLS大部分管理。他们的野猫人群强烈地介入了家猫。这些猫在功能上与杂交较少的“纯”野猫的功能有所不同，以及林业实践应如何解释这一点。在CC地区对Clashindarroch和Angus Glens的托管杂交人群以及对圈养的野猫的重新引入，为了解苏格兰捕食者社区的共存，太空使用和猎物资源的生态过程提供了独特的比较机会。这种现有的浸入式野猫种群与新引入的高遗传质量人群的比较提供了一个独特的准实验机会，可以调查圈养育种野猫的建立途径。这还允许探索有关野猫在捕食者社区和更广泛生态系统中扮演的关键问题。特别是，了解野猫的遗传来源是否与它们如何融入现有捕食者社区是否有任何关系。了解野猫和杂交猫之间的功能差异和相似性，应更好地保护野猫，有助于确定哪些人受到法律保护。调查野猫对种植园的森林管理的空间和行为反应，以及理解种植园栖息地用于野猫育种生态学的关键特征，将促进保护和土地管理组织（例如FLS），例如实施必要的保护措施。在此目标中，这些项目的目标是该项目的目标：1：1。量化引入圈养的野猫和更广泛的凯恩戈尔斯捕食者社区之间的空间和饮食重叠，特别关注猎物资源和栖息地的时空分配。2。比较圈养和杂交的自由生活野猫之间的饮食和栖息地使用/选择，并确定这些特征是否会融合，因为被圈养的野猫学会了应对竞争性相互作用并改变猎物供应。3。调查空间和行为反应