Does Landscape Composition Influence the Diets of Feral Cats in Agroecosystems?

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aut.relation.endpage1799
aut.relation.issue6
aut.relation.journalBiological Invasions
aut.relation.startpage1787
aut.relation.volume26
dc.contributor.authorNottingham, CM
dc.contributor.authorBuckley, HL
dc.contributor.authorCase, BS
dc.contributor.authorGlen, AS
dc.contributor.authorStanley, MC
dc.date.accessioned2024-11-12T01:48:30Z
dc.date.available2024-11-12T01:48:30Z
dc.date.issued2024-03-06
dc.description.abstractHabitat fragmentation can influence the diet of mammalian predators, potentially increasing their impact on prey species. Agroecosystems are fragmented landscapes that often have high densities of invasive mammalian predators. Feral cats are generalist predators that have successfully adapted to living in agricultural landscapes. Feral cats are known to eat rabbits, rodents, and birds, but it is unclear how landscape characteristics affect prey consumption. Here, we tested whether feral cat diet in New Zealand agroecosystems was affected by landscape composition and spatial configuration. We examined the contents of 112 feral cat gastrointestinal tracts collected from agroecosystems in different New Zealand regions over a 3-year period. We related prey richness and composition to the landscape composition and spatial configuration in a 500-ha area within which each cat was caught. Dietary analysis showed that feral cats were consuming invertebrates, birds, rodents, and rabbits, and that there were some regional and seasonal effects. No significant differences in prey richness or composition of the diet were associated with variation in landscape composition or spatial configuration. This study confirms feral cats as generalist predators that feed on a wide range of prey types in New Zealand agroecosystems, including some native species. Our study highlights the importance of further research for understanding how current conservation interventions in New Zealand, which include revegetation and rodent control, interact with feral cat populations and behaviours to impact on future biodiversity outcomes.
dc.identifier.citationBiological Invasions, ISSN: 1387-3547 (Print); 1573-1464 (Online), Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 26(6), 1787-1799. doi: 10.1007/s10530-024-03277-7
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s10530-024-03277-7
dc.identifier.issn1387-3547
dc.identifier.issn1573-1464
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10292/18293
dc.languageen
dc.publisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC
dc.relation.urihttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-024-03277-7
dc.rightsOpen Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
dc.rights.accessrightsOpenAccess
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject4101 Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation
dc.subject4102 Ecological Applications
dc.subject4104 Environmental Management
dc.subject41 Environmental Sciences
dc.subject14 Life Below Water
dc.subject15 Life on Land
dc.subject05 Environmental Sciences
dc.subject06 Biological Sciences
dc.subjectEcology
dc.subject31 Biological sciences
dc.subject41 Environmental sciences
dc.titleDoes Landscape Composition Influence the Diets of Feral Cats in Agroecosystems?
dc.typeJournal Article
pubs.elements-id541966
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