The dangers posed by invasive species for endemic island wildlife are well recognised. Introduced domestic cats (Felis catus) represent a significant threat to several endemic species of the Galápagos archipelago—including hatchling marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) and potentially green turtles (Chelonia mydas)—yet little is known about their spatial ecology and habitat use on these islands. Here, we describe a pilot study using GPS collars to track the movements of three feral cats at a site of conservation interest on San Cristóbal Island. Based on 175 days of GPS data, we undertook spatial analyses to ascertain home ranges, and to investigate the overlap of ranges between the cats and potential prey species. Average home range was 1.27 km² (1.12–1.46 km²), which—though small for feral cats—is in keeping with previous findings in Galápagos. We found the cats did use the habitat of a small marine iguana population but did not change their spatial habits before and after iguana hatchlings appeared. Changes over time in the daily movements of one cat indicated a possible response of the individual to the presence of hatchling green turtles (Chelonia mydas); though the data here are insufficient to show whether the cat was hunting these hatchlings. We recommend similar work be undertaken in areas with larger marine iguana populations, where hatchlings could represent a potentially important food source for invasive feral cats, as well as further work to determine the threat posed by cats to turtle hatchlings in Galápagos.

中文翻译：

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加拉帕戈斯州圣克里斯托瓦尔的侵入性野猫Felis catus的空间生态学：GPS项圈的初步见解

人们已经充分认识到外来入侵物种对地方岛屿野生生物构成的危险。引入的家猫（Felis catus）对加拉帕戈斯群岛的几种特有物种构成了重大威胁，包括孵化的海鬣蜥（Amblyrhynchus cristatus）和潜在的绿海龟（Chelonia mydas），但人们对它们的空间生态和栖息地利用知之甚少岛屿。在这里，我们描述了使用GPS项圈在圣克里斯托瓦尔岛上一个具有保护意义的地点跟踪三只野猫的运动的初步研究。基于175天的GPS数据，我们进行了空间分析，以确定家园范围，并调查了猫与潜在猎物之间的范围重叠。平均房屋射程为1.27公里²（1.12-1.46 km ²），尽管对于野猫来说很小，但与加拉帕戈斯群岛先前的发现相符。我们发现猫确实使用了少量海鬣蜥的栖息地，但在鬣蜥幼体出现之前和之后都没有改变它们的空间习性。一只猫的日常运动随时间的变化表明该个体可能会对孵化的绿海龟（Chelonia mydas）; 尽管此处的数据不足以显示猫是否在捕食这些幼体。我们建议在海鬣蜥数量较多的地区进行类似的工作，在这些地区，孵化器可能是侵入性野猫的潜在重要食物来源，并建议进一步开展工作，以确定猫对加拉帕戈斯群岛的海龟孵化所造成的威胁。