The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Ecology of a versatile canid in the Neotropics: gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in Belize, Central America

Ecology of a versatile canid in the Neotropics: gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in Belize, Central America
Ecology of a versatile canid in the Neotropics: gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in Belize, Central America

Gray foxes are successful habitat generalists within the temperate zone of their geographic range, exploiting a wide variety of habitats, including human-dominated landscapes. However, little is known of their use of tropical habitats or their ability to exploit landscapes with human activity. Here, we report the first study to explore the ecology and behavior of gray foxes within the tropics. Extensive camera-trap data (23,598 trap nights) across two different landscapes in Belize, combined with telemetry data on three collared individuals, showed a preference for more open and drier habitats over tropical moist broadleaf forest which is the dominant habitat type in the region. Although foxes did not use the interior of the broadleaf forests, they were detected at the edges and readily exploited areas that had been converted to support human activities (e.g., tourist centers). Home ranges of collared individuals were relatively large (3–7 km2) compared to those of temperate gray foxes, suggesting that they occupy a less productive landscape than those studied further north. This study found that although tropical gray foxes readily exploited human-altered landscapes, just as they do in the temperate zone, they are not the habitat generalists as previously thought and seem unable to fully exploit tropical moist broadleaf forest, the regions’ most dominant and productive habitat type.

Activity patterns, Diet, Gray fox, Habitat selection, Home ranges, Neotropics
2199-2401
319-332
Harmsen, Bart J.
c84e0703-d49d-4b09-980a-423b09fd5536
Sanchez, Emma
8a93d885-94f8-4c36-af8a-6f7e902494e1
Figueroa, Omar A.
9409287a-4aac-4862-a066-9e86e244b88f
Gutierrez, Said M.
5c3760e4-f831-4ebc-9f87-cc9ad72e626f
Doncaster, C. Patrick
0eff2f42-fa0a-4e35-b6ac-475ad3482047
Foster, Rebecca J.
c811528a-908b-4629-a32f-c605855b060f
Harmsen, Bart J.
c84e0703-d49d-4b09-980a-423b09fd5536
Sanchez, Emma
8a93d885-94f8-4c36-af8a-6f7e902494e1
Figueroa, Omar A.
9409287a-4aac-4862-a066-9e86e244b88f
Gutierrez, Said M.
5c3760e4-f831-4ebc-9f87-cc9ad72e626f
Doncaster, C. Patrick
0eff2f42-fa0a-4e35-b6ac-475ad3482047
Foster, Rebecca J.
c811528a-908b-4629-a32f-c605855b060f

Harmsen, Bart J., Sanchez, Emma, Figueroa, Omar A., Gutierrez, Said M., Doncaster, C. Patrick and Foster, Rebecca J. (2019) Ecology of a versatile canid in the Neotropics: gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in Belize, Central America. Mammal Research, 64 (3), 319-332. (doi:10.1007/s13364-018-00413-2).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Gray foxes are successful habitat generalists within the temperate zone of their geographic range, exploiting a wide variety of habitats, including human-dominated landscapes. However, little is known of their use of tropical habitats or their ability to exploit landscapes with human activity. Here, we report the first study to explore the ecology and behavior of gray foxes within the tropics. Extensive camera-trap data (23,598 trap nights) across two different landscapes in Belize, combined with telemetry data on three collared individuals, showed a preference for more open and drier habitats over tropical moist broadleaf forest which is the dominant habitat type in the region. Although foxes did not use the interior of the broadleaf forests, they were detected at the edges and readily exploited areas that had been converted to support human activities (e.g., tourist centers). Home ranges of collared individuals were relatively large (3–7 km2) compared to those of temperate gray foxes, suggesting that they occupy a less productive landscape than those studied further north. This study found that although tropical gray foxes readily exploited human-altered landscapes, just as they do in the temperate zone, they are not the habitat generalists as previously thought and seem unable to fully exploit tropical moist broadleaf forest, the regions’ most dominant and productive habitat type.

Text
Harmsen-et-al-2019-Ecology-gray-foxes
Download (2MB)

More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 22 January 2019
Keywords: Activity patterns, Diet, Gray fox, Habitat selection, Home ranges, Neotropics

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 432304
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/432304
ISSN: 2199-2401
PURE UUID: 7edfbf81-083e-49f8-ab69-6724c766263d
ORCID for C. Patrick Doncaster: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9406-0693

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 09 Jul 2019 16:30
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 02:41

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Bart J. Harmsen
Author: Emma Sanchez
Author: Omar A. Figueroa
Author: Said M. Gutierrez
Author: Rebecca J. Foster

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×