Habitat use and sensitivity to fragmentation in America's smallest wildcat
Henle, Klaus
- 1
- 2Helmholtz Association
- 3University of Minnesota System
- 4Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Journal
Mammalian Biology
ISSN
1616-5047
1618-1476
Open Access
closed
Volume
86
Start page
1
End page
8
Fragmentation and human-wildlife conflicts represent severe threats to wildcats such as the kodkod cat (Leopardus guigna), endemic to the heavily impacted Chilean temperate rainforest. Here we assess to which extent this vulnerable forest specialist is able to use altered habitat (agricultural matrix, forest edge, human presence) by studying its home ranges, habitat use, and patch selection in privately owned rainforest remnants. We radio-tracked five individuals over 33-376 days. Mean 95% kernel home ranges were 623 ha, with a mean 50% core area of 191 ha. Ecological-niche and Mahalanobis distance factor analysis confirmed forest-dependency and revealed that the individuals made intensive use of forest edges, close to water. They did not avoid houses. Generalized linear mixed models showed that the monitored kodkods selected elongated woodland patches. We conclude that the kodkods compensated the non-forest space by maintaining larger home ranges and making efficient use of forest edges probably due to higher prey availability. Future studies should identify ecological traps, and describe connectivity and source-sink dynamics in the agricultural matrix to develop long-term conservation efforts for the smallest cat of the Americas. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier GmbH on behalf of Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Saugetierkunde.