Chapter 1: Carnivores in human-influenced landscapes

Behavioural response to prey availability

Flexibility in foraging behaviour and diet will allow prey switching if the
preferred prey become depleted; for example, African wild dogs are able to survive on
small prey in areas where their preferred large ungulate prey is scarce (Woodroffe et al.
2007a). The narrower the diet, the less resilient the species will be to environmental
changes, therefore omnivorous generalists will be more resilient than strictly
carnivorous specialists. Many carnivore species utilise anthropogenic sources of food.
Strictly carnivorous species such as large felids will predate on domestic livestock,
bringing them into direct conflict with people, in the long run a negative adaptation; for
example lions (Patterson et al. 2004), and pumas (Mazzolli et al. 2002). Omnivorous
species however, such as canids, ursids, hyaenids and some mustelids, may greatly
benefit from foraging on garbage, at relatively low risk. These species may thrive in
urban habitats; for example urban densities exceeding rural densities have been
recorded in many generalist carnivores including raccoons (Smith and Engeman 2002,
Prange et al. 2003), grey foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) (Riley 2006), black bears
(Beckmann and Berger 2003b), coyotes (Fedriani et al. 2001) and San Joaquin kit foxes
(Vulpes macrotis mutica) (Cypher and Frost 1999).

Population Resilience
High reproductive rates, reproductive and social flexibility (Frank and
Woodroffe 2001) and dispersal ability between populations, will help a population
compensate for human-induced mortality. There is high variability among carnivores
and their resilience to human-induced mortality may be difficult to predict; for example
mustelids and small felids are not resilient to non-selective methods of red fox control,
yet the high reproductive rate, density dependent reproduction and broad diet of foxes
allow them to persist under such conditions (Virgos and Travaini 2005).
Reproductive rate tends to scale with size: large species reproduce later and
more slowly than small species, but, in the absence of human-induced mortality, also
live longer. Under conditions of intense anthropogenic mortality it may be expected that
smaller carnivores may be more resilient than larger carnivore species.
The energy requirements of a female increase when she is pregnant, lactating, or
with dependents. In order to reproduce females must have access to abundant food. In
fragmented and disturbed habitats generalist species will be more likely to secure

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