Agonistic encounters among carnivores can be potentially avoided or minimized by shifts in daily activity patterns. Here, we investigated the temporal ecology of mesocarnivores which co-occur in a semiarid area where top predators are virtually absent. More specifically, we (i) describe the daily activity patterns of six mesocarnivore species, (ii) evaluate possible seasonal changes in their daily activity patterns, (iii) examine patterns of temporal overlap among mesocarnivores, and (iv) test the overlap in daily activity between mesocarnivores and their potential prey. Using camera-trapping data (13,976 camera-days) and circular and overlapping analyses, we studied six out of the seven mesocarnivore species recorded. Striped hog-nosed skunk and the crab-eating raccoon were nocturnal, crab-eating fox and northern tiger cat were nocturnal-crepuscular, ocelot was mainly nocturnal, and jaguarundi was diurnal. With the exception of jaguarundi, we fail to find strong temporal segregation among mesocarnivore and interspecific interactions did not vary seasonally, but we observed separation in their activity peaks and significant difference in their activity distributions. This partial temporal segregation can potentially contribute to interspecific coexistence, reducing the chances of interspecific killing, mainly in relation to the dominant species (ocelot). Mesocarnivores did not exhibit a significant synchrony of their activity with any of the preys evaluated, with the exception of jaguarundi, which significantly overlapped its distribution of activity with some preys. Temporal segregation contributes, but does not seem to be the only mechanism behind the coexistence of mesocarnivores in Caatinga dry forest; thus, other strategies such as spatial and dietary segregation should be considered.

中文翻译：

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Caatinga干旱森林中食肉动物之间的时间生态位重叠

食肉动物之间的亲密接触可以通过日常活动模式的改变而避免或最小化。在这里，我们调查了半食肉动物的时间生态，这些食肉动物在半干旱地区几乎没有顶级捕食者同时发生。更具体地说，我们（i）描述了六个食肉动物的日常活动模式，（ii）评估了它们的日常活动模式的季节性变化，（iii）检查了食肉动物之间时间重叠的模式，以及（iv）测试了日常食肉动物的重叠食肉动物和它们的潜在猎物之间的活动。使用相机捕获数据（13,976个相机天）以及圆形和重叠分析，我们研究了所记录的七个中食肉动物物种中的六个。条纹猪鼻臭鼬和吃螃蟹的浣熊是夜间活动，食蟹的狐狸和北部的虎猫是夜间晚上的，豹猫主要是夜间的，而美洲虎是昼夜的。除美洲虎（Jaguarundi）外，我们未能发现中食肉动物之间存在强烈的时间隔离，种间相互作用没有季节性变化，但我们观察到它们的活性峰分离并且它们的活性分布存在显着差异。这种时间上的局部隔离可能潜在地促进种间共存，减少种间杀灭的机会，主要是与优势种（豹猫）有关。中食肉动物与被评估的任何猎物都没有表现出明显的活动同步，但美洲虎除外，后者的活动分布与某些猎物明显重叠。时间隔离有助于 但似乎不是Caatinga干旱森林中食肉动物共存的唯一机制；因此，应考虑其他策略，例如空间和饮食隔离。