How do the sympatric forest mongooses coexist in the Western Ghats landscape? Insights from spatio-temporal approach

Shameer, Thekke Thumbath and Backer, Sulekha Jameela and Nandhini, Subramani and Raman, Sreehari and Mujawar, Azim Nisar and Yogesh, Jayakumar and Kaushal, Krishan Kumar and Reddy, Srinivas Ramachandra and Nazia, Anwar and Sanil, Raveendranathanpillai (2022) How do the sympatric forest mongooses coexist in the Western Ghats landscape? Insights from spatio-temporal approach. COMMUNITY ECOLOGY, 23 (2). pp. 231-245. ISSN 1585-8553 (print); 1588-2756 (online)

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Abstract

Interactions shape the existence, abundance, and dynamics of species in an ecological community. Using ecological niche modelling and temporal analysis, we investigated the spatio-temporal partitioning of three sympatric mongooses within the Western Ghats, India: ruddy mongoose (Urva smithii), stripe-necked mongoose (Urva vitticollis), and brown mongoose (Urva fusca). We attempted to determine the distribution of sympatric mongooses in a larger area, such as the Western Ghats, how they would coexist, and how they would be active. We used data from camera traps, direct sighting reports, and published literature occurrence records. For niche models, we used environment variables like climate, elevation, land cover, forest cover, tree density, highways, streams, and global human footprint. The temporal pattern was estimated using the time data from camera traps. Mongoose distribution was found to be primarily influenced by precipitation and eleva- tion, with a considerable response to water bodies. The brown mongoose is nocturnal, whereas the other two are diurnal with non-identical activity peaks that correspond to sympatric adjustments. The brown and stripe-necked mongooses have a higher level of highly suitable niche overlap than the ruddy mongoose. It is possible that the sympatric temporal adjust- ment evolved as a result of speciation. The study consolidates baseline information on spatio-temporal partitioning of less studied mongooses which may be useful in understanding the complex community ecology of the Western Ghats landscape from a conservation point of view.

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