Abstract:In order to study the temporal and spatial niche differentiation among middle-sized carnivores and explain their coexistence strategies in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), Yellow-throated Marten (Martes flavigula) and Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) were monitored from 2014 to 2019 using infrared triggered camera (Fig. 1). We modeled the habitat distribution of three species with MaxEnt and calculated the habitat overlap rate among species to indicate spatial niche differentiation. The results showed that the habitat area of Red Fox, Yellow-throated Marten and Leopard Cat was 137, 191, and 186 km2 respectively. The Red Fox inhabited in the western area of the reserve with high elevation, while the Yellow-throated Marten and Leopard Cat prefer to the south-eastern area with lower elevation (Fig. 2). The habitat overlap rate between Yellow-throated Marten and Leopard Cat was 56.7%, followed by that between Red Fox and Leopard Cat (16.5%). The biggest spatial niche differentiation was between Red Fox and Yellow-throated Marten with habitat overlap rate of 7.7%. The daily rhythm of three species was used to indicate they temporal niche. We divided the day into 24 periods and period n was defined as the time interval between n and n + 1 oclock. We calculated the time-period relative abundance index (ITRA) of each period of each species to indicate the daily rhythm of three species. The result showed that the Red Fox and Leopard Cat showed similar daily rhythm, which were characterized by more active at night. The activity peaks of Red Fox occurred at 4:00﹣6:00, 20:00﹣21:00 and 23:00﹣24:00, while that of Leopard Cat occurred at 2:00﹣4:00, 6:00﹣7:00, 20:00﹣21:00 and 22:00﹣1:00 of the next day. On the contrary, Yellow-throated Marten tend to be active during the daytime and the activity peaks occurred at 9:00﹣10:00, 11:00﹣15:00 and 16:00﹣19:00 (Fig. 3). The results indicate that Red Fox, Yellow-throated Marten and Leopard Cat have adapted to different temporal or spatial niche from each other, and this makes it possible for them to coexist in the Wolong National Nature Reserve.
