Work

Increased Temporal Overlap in Diel Activity Patterns Potentially Intensifies Interspecific Competition Among Sympatric Large Carnivores in the Sanjiangyuan Region of China

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Activity patterns constitute a critical adaptive trait in large carnivores, enabling them to manage interspecific competition, enhance their foraging efficiency, and adapt to fluctuating environmental conditions. At the community level, elucidating the temporal activity allocation of sympatric large carnivores is essential for understanding species coexistence mechanisms. However, the activity patterns of most large carnivores remain inadequately explored. In this study, spanning a survey period from June 2014 to April 2024, we employed infrared camera technology to collect a total of 3312, 352, 240, and 79 independently validated photographs of snow leopards (Panthera uncia Schreber, 1775), wolves (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758), brown bears (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758), and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx Linnaeus, 1758), respectively, across six distinct regions in the Sanjiangyuan Region (SR) and during different monitoring time periods. We utilized kernel density estimation and the coefficient of overlaps to assess diel activity pattern overlap and competitive intensities through pairwise comparisons among these four large carnivores. An analysis of the diel activity rhythm curves revealed that all four large carnivores predominantly exhibited nocturnal behavior, although their peak activity periods differed notably. Furthermore, the diel activity rhythm overlap between each pair of species showed moderate to high intensity throughout the year (0.5 ≤ Δ < 1), including during both the cold and warm seasons. Specifically, the diel activity rhythms of snow leopards and wolves, snow leopards and Eurasian lynx, and wolves and Eurasian lynx exhibited high levels of overlap annually and during the cold season (0.8 ≤ Δ < 1) but only moderate overlap during the warm season (0.5 ≤ Δ < 0.8). Our findings suggest that the diel activity rhythms of these four large carnivore species exhibited considerable overlap, potentially intensifying interspecific competition. This study advances our knowledge on the competitive and coexistence mechanisms of large carnivores in high-altitude mountainous ecosystems, offering critical data for their conservation and management.

Source: Animals

DOI: 10.3390/ani15142059

Authors: Dong Wang, Quanbang Li, Jingyu Gao, Xu Su, Xinming Lian

Institutions: Qinghai Normal University, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Subfield: Ecology

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896

Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China