Motion-triggered video cameras reveal spatial and temporal patterns of red fox foraging on carrion provided by mountain lions

Connor O'Malley; L Mark Elbroch; Patrick E Lendrum; Howard Quigley

doi:10.7717/peerj.5324

Motion-triggered video cameras reveal spatial and temporal patterns of red fox foraging on carrion provided by mountain lions

PeerJ. 2018 Jul 31:6:e5324. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5324. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Connor O'Malley¹, L Mark Elbroch¹, Patrick E Lendrum², Howard Quigley¹

Affiliations

¹ Panthera, New York, NY, USA.
² Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.

Abstract

Carrion is a rich, ephemeral resource vital to biodiversity and ecosystem health. In temperate ecosystems in which cold temperatures and snowfall influence the accessibility and availability of small prey and seasonal mast crops, carrion may also be a limiting resource for mesocarnivores like red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), which are too small to predate ungulates. Using motion-triggered video cameras and generalized linear mixed models, we studied the spatial and temporal patterns of red fox scavenging at 232 mountain lion kills in the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) from 2012-2015. We found that red foxes scavenged mountain lion kills across all habitats throughout the year, however, red fox behaviors varied with season. In winter, we documented red foxes at a greater proportion of mountain lion kills (70.3% in winter vs. 48.9% in summer), and in greater numbers (1.83 foxes per kill in winter vs. 1.16 in summer). In winter, red foxes fed longer (= 102.7 ± 138.3 minutes feeding in winter vs. = 39.7 ± 74.0 in summer), and they more often scavenged while the mountain lion was nearby. We speculated that red foxes may have increased risk taking in winter due to hunger driven by resource scarcity. Our research highlighted an important ecological relationship between red foxes and mountain lions in the GYE. Mountain lions tolerate high levels of scavenging, so the frequency and intensity of red fox scavenging at their kills may not impact mountain lions, but instead facilitate the dispersion and benefits of resources created by this apex predator. Large carnivores, and mid-trophic felids like mountain lions in particular, are essential producers of carrion vital to biodiversity and ecosystem health. In turn, scavengers play critical roles in distributing these resources and increasing the heterogeneity of resources that support biodiversity and ecosystem structure, as well as ecological resilience.

Keywords: Apex predator; Carrion; Motion-triggered video cameras; Mountain lion; Puma concolor; Red fox; Scavenging; Trophic cascade; Vulpes vulpes.

Grants and funding

This project was financially supported by the Summerlee Foundation, the Charles Engelhard Foundation, Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust, the National Geographic Society, Connemara Fund, the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, the BBC Natural History Unit, Pace University, Wyoming Wildlife Foundation, EcoTour Adventures, the PC Fund for Animals Charitable Trust, the Tapeats Fund, the Lee and Juliet Folger Fund, the Earth Island Institute, L. Westbrook, the Scully Family, R. and L. Haberfeld, Hogan LLC, L. and R. Holder, S. and L. Robertson, R. and L. Heskett, F. and B. Burgess, J. Morgan, A. Smith, D. Bainbridge, T. Thomas, and many additional donors that contributed anonymously through the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole’s Old Bill’s Fun Run. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.