Population density and habitat use of two sympatric small cats in a central Indian reserve.

ABSTRACT: Despite appreciable advances in carnivore ecology, studies on small cats remain limited with carnivore research in India being skewed towards large cats. Small cats are more specialized than their larger cousins in terms of resource selection. Studies on small cat population and habitat preference are critical to evaluate their status to ensure better management and conservation. We estimated abundance of two widespread small cats, the jungle cat, and the rusty-spotted cat, and investigated their habitat associations based on camera trap captures from a central Indian tiger reserve. We predicted fine-scale habitat segregation between these sympatric species as a driver of coexistence. We used an extension of the spatial count model in a Bayesian framework approach to estimate the populatio

SUBMITTER: Chatterjee N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7271992 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature