F. Palomares’s research while affiliated with Doñana Biological Station and other places

Traditional agro‐pastoral practices are more beneficial for biodiversity than intensified agricultural systems. Promotion of the growth of natural herbaceous vegetation in pastoral fields can enhance rodent populations and consequently influence ecological aspects of carnivores with rodent‐based diets, like prey consumption in the European wildcat (Felis silvestris). In this article, we investigated the effects of pastoral field extent, season and prey abundance on wildcat consumption of several prey species in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain). Prey consumption in areas with presence of pastoral fields (even in low proportions) was dominated by profitable field‐dwelling rodent species such as Arvicola monticola. Consumption of Arvicola was not correlated with its abundance and was higher during summer and autumn. Apodemus dominated the wildcat diet in areas with higher forest proportion and far from pastoral fields, particularly during spring. Our results suggest that varying habitat use and seasonal changes in prey accessibility may determine wildcat prey consumption in pastoral landscapes. Our results can contribute to highlight the potential benefits of traditional and sustainable pastoral activities for the conservation of the European wildcat across its distribution range.

Jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) diets in Quintana Roo, Mexico. A study was carried out for two years in Northwest Quintana Roo, México, using scat analysis to determine the diet and prey preferences of pumas and jaguars. Cat species and gender were determined using molecular techniques (rapid classificatory protocol: polymerise chain reaction, RCP–PCR), and prey abundance was estimated from camera trapping. The scats contained remains from 16 wild mammal species, but there was no evidence of livestock or other taxa. The diet breadths of jaguar (0.32) and puma (0.29) indicated a high degree of prey specialization, which combined with their dietary overlap (Pianka index 0.77) suggested competition between them. However, both felids showed a preference for red brocket deer Mazama temama, and frequently consumed collared peccaries Pecari tajacu. The importance of such large ungulates in the felids' diets is similar to the expected patterns of wild meat consumption in rural areas of the Northern Yucatan Peninsula. Therefore, future conservation management plan initiatives should involve local rural communities in the management of sustainable hunting, considering these ungulates are also the felid prey species.

Aim (1) To evaluate whether geographic variation in population abundance of a widespread mammal ( Pecari tajacu ) is related to its location with respect to the centroid of its ecological niche or to the centroid of its geographic range. (2) To assess whether the abundance–niche centrality relationship defines the maximum expected abundance at any location, rather than the realized abundance. (3) To test whether including human impacts improves the abundance–niche centrality relationship, and therefore the prediction of geographic variation in population abundance. Location The Americas. Methods We modelled the ecological niche of the species using occurrence and environmental data and created spatial models of distance to the niche centroid ( DNC ) and to the geographic centroid ( DGC ). We tested the relationships between population abundance and DNC and between abundance and DGC . We evaluated whether the rate of change in the abundance– DNC relationship was steeper near the upper boundary of quantile regressions. We tested whether the human influence index ( HII ) contributed to improve niche‐based predictions of population abundance. Finally, we generated broad‐scale predictions of collared peccary population abundances. Results We found a negative relationship between abundance and DNC and a non‐significant relationship between abundance and DGC . The abundance– DNC relationship was wedge‐shaped, steeper in the upper quantile boundary than in the median. HII also had a negative effect on abundance. The model including DNC and HII was best supported for predicting the median abundance, while DNC alone was the best to predict the upper boundary of population abundances. Main conclusions Population abundances are associated with the structure of the ecological niche, especially the maximum abundance expected in an area. Thus, the DNC approach can be useful in obtaining a spatial approximation of potential abundance patterns at biogeographic extents. To achieve a better prediction of realized abundances, it is critical to consider the human influence.

Jaguars and pumas are the largest felids in the Americas. Information about these two species is scarce, especially where both species are sympatric. We studied the use and selection of macrohabitats, spatial segregation and kinship in jaguars and pumas in the Viruá National Park (Amazonian lowlands) by non-invasive genetic analyses of faecal samples. Seven different jaguars (six males and one female) and nine different pumas (five males and four females) were identified. We found space use segregation between the two species, with pumas using mostly forested habitats and jaguars using open habitats slightly more than the forested ones. This result is unexpected, since previous studies have found that pumas favour more open habitats than jaguars. The results suggest that jaguars use the areas in a more random manner, corresponding to the habits of a dominant generalist species, whereas pumas use the area to reduce encounter rates with jaguars. Nevertheless, both species mainly used areas near upland forest-flooding habitats. Some kinship categories were supported with a p < 0.05 in 57 and 83% of the pair comparisons between the identified jaguars and the identified pumas, respectively. Non-invasive genetic analysis of faeces was useful to study the spatial ecology of solitary, rare and cryptic species in the Amazon.

We recorded resting and breeding sites used by the endangered European mink (Mustela lutreola) inhabiting Western Europe (Foral Community of Navarre). Over a sample size of 22 radio-tracked mink (10 adult females, 7 adult males, 2 young females, and 3 young males) between March 2007 and February 2009, we found that European mink mainly rested within brambles and reeds (39.7% for each type, n=156), regardless of seasons and age-sex classes. On average, the resting site re-use rate was 1.3 (range=1–4.3). Nine out of 10 breeding dens were located in lagoons or tributaries. The only one located along a main river course lost the litter due to flooding. Eight out of 10 breeding dens were in bramble patches. Thick and helophytic vegetation should be prioritised in management plans aimed at improving the conservation status of this species. Promoting this vegetation would favour adequate resting and breeding sites for European mink. A focus on improving vegetation around lagoons or tributaries can help to minimise flooding during the breeding period.

Supplementary resources of the manuscript: Free housing for declining populations: Optimizing the provision of artificial breeding structures.

Home-range size has been found to be related to body mass of some animals both across species and within species when the spatial strategies of the sexes differ. I studied home-range size in a polygynous carnivore, the Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), and compared observed home-range size with predictions based on body mass. First, I tested whether mongooses actually exhibited site fidelity (for daily and multiday periods). Mongooses always showed site fidelity for a multiday home range, but in only 59% of the cases for daily home range. Adult males exhibited less daily site fidelity than did adult females or young. Multiday home-range size was similar among age–sex classes, but males had significantly more core areas than females or young. Multiday home-range size was positively correlated with body mass for adult males (r2 = 0.98, P = 0.0122) and negatively correlated with body mass of adult females (r2 = 0.40, P = 0.0374). Differences in these relationships and daily site fidelity between adult males and females suggest that the spatial strategies of male and female Egyptian mongooses are different, with the larger females defending the areas richer in resources and the larger males having more access to females.

Faeces similarity among sympatric felid species has generally hampered their use in distributional, demographic and dietary studies. Here, we present a new and simple approach based on a set of species-specific primers, for the unambiguous identification of faeces from sympatric neotropical felids (i.e. puma, jaguar, jaguarundi and ocelot/ margay). This method, referred to as rapid classificatory protocol-PCR (RCP-PCR), consists of a single-tube multiplex PCR yielding species-specific banding patterns on agarose gel. The method was optimized with samples of known origin (14 blood and 15 fresh faeces) and validated in faecal samples of unknown origin (n = 138), for some of which (n = 40) we also obtained species identification based on mtDNA sequencing. This approach proved reliable and provides high identification success rates from faeces. Its simplicity and cost effectiveness should facilitate its application for routine surveys of presence and abundance of these species.