Integrating space, time, and prey: How wild and domestic carnivores co-exist in natural ecosystems
As human activities increasingly encroach into natural ecosystems, it is critical to understand how carnivores coexist with anthropogenic disturbances, for example, the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris), which roams freely in natural habitats and represents a global conservation concern. Few stu...
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Elsevier
2025-10-01
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| Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425003476 |
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| author | Hua Zhong Fengjiao Li Luciano Atzeni Yixuan Liu Ruifen Wang Abduzaire Alemiti Koderhan Bayakan Kun Shi |
| author_facet | Hua Zhong Fengjiao Li Luciano Atzeni Yixuan Liu Ruifen Wang Abduzaire Alemiti Koderhan Bayakan Kun Shi |
| author_sort | Hua Zhong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As human activities increasingly encroach into natural ecosystems, it is critical to understand how carnivores coexist with anthropogenic disturbances, for example, the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris), which roams freely in natural habitats and represents a global conservation concern. Few studies have employed multi-faceted approaches to address this issue, limiting our understanding of carnivore coexistence mechanisms. We focused on the carnivores in the Tianshan Mountains of Central Asia to describe their multi-niche coexistence patterns, integrating dietary metabarcoding, multispecies occupancy modeling and temporal activity analysis. We found that snow leopards (Panthera uncia) and wolves (Canis lupus) showed high dietary, spatial, and temporal overlap, sharing preferences for ibex (Capra sibirica) and avoiding elk (Cervus canadensis). Dietary analysis revealed that domestic dogs shared prey preferences and exhibited high dietary overlap with both snow leopards and wolves. These results indicate that dogs may compete with both apex predators for resources, particularly wolves due to their high spatio-temporal overlap. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) had lower dietary overlap with other carnivores due to lower reliance on large mammals, which were likely obtained through scavenging. This scavenging behavior was further supported by its tendency to spatially co-occur with large carnivores, especially snow leopards. Given its varied temporal overlaps with large carnivores, we demonstrated that its coexistence with them is facilitated by flexible resource use and temporal adaptations, rather than spatial segregation. These findings reveal carnivore coexistence despite disturbance from free-roaming dogs and underscore the need to enhance dog management for promoting human-wildlife coexistence in natural ecosystems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4c41f09bca8e4a908cd82c7338ec39e2 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2351-9894 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj-art-4c41f09bca8e4a908cd82c7338ec39e22025-07-26T05:23:28ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942025-10-0162e03746Integrating space, time, and prey: How wild and domestic carnivores co-exist in natural ecosystemsHua Zhong0Fengjiao Li1Luciano Atzeni2Yixuan Liu3Ruifen Wang4Abduzaire Alemiti5Koderhan Bayakan6Kun Shi7Eco-Bridge Continental, Beijing 100085, China; Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3EL, UKEco-Bridge Continental, Beijing 100085, China; Wildlife Institute, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, ChinaWildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3EL, UK; Department of Research and Conservation, Wildlife Initiative Italia, Via Monte Tesoro 21, Verona 37132, ItalyEco-Bridge Continental, Beijing 100085, ChinaEastern Tianshan Forestry Administration of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi 830001, ChinaEastern Tianshan Forestry Administration of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi 830001, ChinaForestry and Grassland Administration of Boltala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Bole 833400, ChinaEco-Bridge Continental, Beijing 100085, China; Wildlife Institute, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Corresponding author at: Eco-Bridge Continental, Beijing 100085, China.As human activities increasingly encroach into natural ecosystems, it is critical to understand how carnivores coexist with anthropogenic disturbances, for example, the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris), which roams freely in natural habitats and represents a global conservation concern. Few studies have employed multi-faceted approaches to address this issue, limiting our understanding of carnivore coexistence mechanisms. We focused on the carnivores in the Tianshan Mountains of Central Asia to describe their multi-niche coexistence patterns, integrating dietary metabarcoding, multispecies occupancy modeling and temporal activity analysis. We found that snow leopards (Panthera uncia) and wolves (Canis lupus) showed high dietary, spatial, and temporal overlap, sharing preferences for ibex (Capra sibirica) and avoiding elk (Cervus canadensis). Dietary analysis revealed that domestic dogs shared prey preferences and exhibited high dietary overlap with both snow leopards and wolves. These results indicate that dogs may compete with both apex predators for resources, particularly wolves due to their high spatio-temporal overlap. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) had lower dietary overlap with other carnivores due to lower reliance on large mammals, which were likely obtained through scavenging. This scavenging behavior was further supported by its tendency to spatially co-occur with large carnivores, especially snow leopards. Given its varied temporal overlaps with large carnivores, we demonstrated that its coexistence with them is facilitated by flexible resource use and temporal adaptations, rather than spatial segregation. These findings reveal carnivore coexistence despite disturbance from free-roaming dogs and underscore the need to enhance dog management for promoting human-wildlife coexistence in natural ecosystems.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425003476Carnivore coexistenceTrophic interactionsFree-ranging dogsDietary metabarcodingOccupancy modelingActivity analysis |
| spellingShingle | Hua Zhong Fengjiao Li Luciano Atzeni Yixuan Liu Ruifen Wang Abduzaire Alemiti Koderhan Bayakan Kun Shi Integrating space, time, and prey: How wild and domestic carnivores co-exist in natural ecosystems Global Ecology and Conservation Carnivore coexistence Trophic interactions Free-ranging dogs Dietary metabarcoding Occupancy modeling Activity analysis |
| title | Integrating space, time, and prey: How wild and domestic carnivores co-exist in natural ecosystems |
| title_full | Integrating space, time, and prey: How wild and domestic carnivores co-exist in natural ecosystems |
| title_fullStr | Integrating space, time, and prey: How wild and domestic carnivores co-exist in natural ecosystems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Integrating space, time, and prey: How wild and domestic carnivores co-exist in natural ecosystems |
| title_short | Integrating space, time, and prey: How wild and domestic carnivores co-exist in natural ecosystems |
| title_sort | integrating space time and prey how wild and domestic carnivores co exist in natural ecosystems |
| topic | Carnivore coexistence Trophic interactions Free-ranging dogs Dietary metabarcoding Occupancy modeling Activity analysis |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425003476 |
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