The fine-scale utilization of forest edges by mammalian mesopredators related to patch size and conservation issues in Central European farmland
Abstrakt
We tested whether the distribution of mammalian mesopredators is related to fragment size and distance to habitat edge, and whether the contribution of these factors is additive or interactive. To assess fine-scale utilization of forest edges, we established transects of four scent stations at different distances from forest edges into the interior (0, 25, 50, 100 m) in 146 forest fragments of variable patch size (3.2-5099.6 ha) from May to June, 2008-2009.
This large sample size allowed us to perform detailed analyses separately for all detected species. Our findings confirm that mammalian mesopredators strongly prefer habitat edges and small forest fragments.
The probability of occurrence tended to decrease with increasing distance from the edge for all seven carnivore species detected. The carnivores' occurrence was also negatively correlated with forest fragment area.
All detected species tended to prefer small fragments.