Dracula's ménagerie: A multispecies occupancy analysis of lynx, wildcat, and wolf in the Romanian Carpathians

Marissa A Dyck; Ruben Iosif; Barbara Promberger-Fürpass; Viorel D Popescu

doi:10.1002/ece3.8921

Dracula's ménagerie: A multispecies occupancy analysis of lynx, wildcat, and wolf in the Romanian Carpathians

Ecol Evol. 2022 May 16;12(5):e8921. doi: 10.1002/ece3.8921. eCollection 2022 May.

Authors

Marissa A Dyck¹, Ruben Iosif², Barbara Promberger-Fürpass², Viorel D Popescu^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences Ohio University Athens Ohio USA.
² Foundation Conservation Carpathia Brașov Romania.
³ Center for Environmental Research University of Bucharest Bucharest Romania.

Abstract

The recovery of terrestrial carnivores in Europe is a conservation success story. Initiatives focused on restoring top predators require information on how resident species may interact with the re-introduced species as their interactions have the potential to alter food webs, yet such data are scarce for Europe.In this study, we assessed patterns of occupancy and interactions between three carnivore species in the Romanian Carpathians. Romania houses one of the few intact carnivore guilds in Europe, making it an ideal system to assess intraguild interactions and serve as a guide for reintroductions elsewhere.We used camera trap data from two seasons in Transylvanian forests to assess occupancy and co-occurrence of carnivores using multispecies occupancy models.Mean occupancy in the study area was highest for lynx (Ψ_winter = 0.76 95% CI: 0.42-0.92; Ψ_autumn = 0.71 CI: 0.38-0.84) and wolf (Ψ_winter = 0.60 CI: 0.34-0.78; Ψ_autumn = 0.81 CI: 0.25-0.95) and lowest for wildcat (Ψ_winter = 0.40 CI: 0.19-0.63; Ψ_autumn = 0.52 CI: 0.17-0.78)We found that marginal occupancy predictors for carnivores varied between seasons. We also found differences in predictors of co-occurrence between seasons for both lynx-wolf and wildcat-wolf co-occurrence. For both seasons, we found that conditional occupancy probabilities of all three species were higher when another species was present.Our results indicate that while there are seasonal differences in predictors of occupancy and co-occurrence of the three species, co-occurrence in our study area is high.Terrestrial carnivore recovery efforts are ongoing worldwide. Insights into interspecific relations between carnivore species are critical when considering the depauperate communities they are introduced in. Our work showcases that apex carnivore coexistence is possible, but dependent on protection afforded to forest habitats and their prey base.

Keywords: carnivores; coexistence; human‐dominated; interactions; landscapes; multispecies occupancy.