Title
Sumatra-wide assessment of spatiotemporal niche partitioning among small carnivore species
Author(s)
Sibarani, Marsya Christyanti; Albert, Wido Rizki; Ario, Anton; Ariyanto, Tomi; Avriandy, Ryan; Dinata, Yoan; Kharis, Taufan; Kiswayadi, Dedi; Nopandry, Bobby; Novarino, Wilson; Radinal; Saputra, Doddy; Setiawan, Agus; Sismanto; Solina, Inda D.; Surya, Rikha A.; Wijaya, Made Vasek; Wong, Wai-Ming; Pusparini, Wulan
Published
2022
Publisher
Mammalian Biology
Abstract
Niche partitioning is a result of interspecific competition between closely-related species to allow co-existence. Multiple species of small carnivores co-occur throughout their ranges in Sumatra, but they are among the lesser studied group of mammal species. This study aimed to collate occurrence records of small carnivores, model their island-wide spatial distribution, and assess their spatio-temporal niche partitioning in Sumatra. We collated camera trap records of small carnivores that were mainly bycatch data from widespread tiger surveys. We used Maxent to predict suitable habitat for nine small carnivore species in response to environmental variables, calculated pairwise spatial niche overlap, and then assessed temporal overlap using Kernel density estimation. In total, we detected 16 of the 21 small carnivore species known to occur in Sumatra. We predicted the suitable habitat of nine species that were found in ≥ 20 locations. Species with the smallest extent of predicted suitable habitat were the Malay civet (Viverra tangalunga) and short-tailed mongoose (Herpestes brachyurus). Of 36 pairwise comparisons, five species pairs had high overlaps and four species pairs had low overlap on spatiotemporal niche. High overlaps did not necessarily indicate high competition pressure because these species have different behaviour to allow coexistence, such as food preference and arboreality. Camera trap surveys are commonly conducted for species-specific studies, yet they also yield abundant records of non-target species. We therefore encouraged collaboration among institutions working in the same region to use bycatch data to fill the knowledge gaps in the ecology of other lesser known species.
Keywords
Camera trapping; Interspecific competition; Maxent; Niche segregation; Spatial distribution modelling; Species coexistence
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PUB35795