Mesocarnivores activity patterns in the Northern Colombian Andes

Abstract

Temporal segregation plays an important role as a coexistence mechanism between potentially competing and closely related species, especially in species with similar morphology and ecological requirements, such as mesocarnivores. This study investigates the temporal niche ecology of mesocarnivores coexisting in the southeastern Aburrá Valley, northern Colombian Andes. Specifically, this study i) evaluated the daily activity patterns of six mesocarnivore species, ii) analyzed the influence of the lunar cycle on the activity patterns of nocturnal species, iii) estimated the temporal overlap between pairs of mesocarnivores, and iv) estimated the functional similarities of these species. We hypothesized that mesocarnivores with similar functional traits exhibit greater temporal niche segregation, thus showing low overlap in their activity patterns to reduce competition. We used data from tracking cameras (10,744 camera-days) and estimated daily activity patterns using Kernel density analysis, non-negative trigonometric summation, and overlap analysis with the Overlap package in R. Also, lunar influence was evaluated using circular statistics in the software Oriana 4.02. Functional similarity was analyzed by similarity clustering using Jaccard's index in PAST. Nine species were recorded; six were included in the analyses of daily activity patterns. Activity patterns were not uniform throughout the circadian cycle. Cerdocyon thous, Leopardus tigrinus, and Nasuella olivacea showed mainly nocturnal activity, while Eira barbara, Nasua nasua, and Neogale frenata displayed a diurnal activity pattern. Only Leopardus tigrinus showed significant activity related to the lunar cycle. The activity overlap between pairs of species was variable, with a tendency to a low overlap, showing a high ecological similarity between species. This study represents the first estimate of the activity patterns of mesocarnivore species in the southeastern Aburrá Valley. The observed activity patterns are similar to those reported in other works. Species with high overlap showed ecological differences, especially in size and diet. The low number of records for some species may be associated with poor detectability but also with low abundance as a result of urban development and anthropogenic disturbance (e. g., roadkills). Our results suggest that temporal segregation contributes to mediating intra-gremial interactions and coexistence between sympatric and potentially competing species. These results will hopefully contribute to the knowledge of the ecology of mesocarnivores, mainly in ecosystems surrounding large cities in the northern Andes.