Urbanisation radically changes habitats and alters available resources. Populations of large, highly mobile species are often extirpated at the urban-wildland interface, while species like mesocarnivores may thrive by capitalising on changes in prey abundance. We investigated the diet of the caracal (Caracal caracal), a medium-sized felid inhabiting patchy natural habitat isolated within the dense urban matrix of South Africa’s second largest city, Cape Town. We systematically integrated two classic dietary methods (scat and GPS clusters) by accounting for gut transit times. As part of a larger caracal ecology study, we GPS-collared 26 individuals over a two-year period (2014–2016) to generate coarse (3-hour) and fine-scale (20-minute) GPS movement data. Using the movement data, we investigated 677 GPS-clusters for prey remains. We collected 654 scats, half of which were found at GPS-clusters and were linked with the individual sampled. By systematically correcting for a range of gut transit times, we determined whether scat at cluster sites was from the same or an earlier feeding event, thereby increasing the overall detection of feeding events by > 50%. Avian prey dominated GPS cluster findings while micromammals were overwhelmingly represented in scat. Although > 40% of feeding events occurred within 200 meters of the urban edge, caracals largely preyed on native species. Our findings have implications for understanding the ability of some species to persist in the face of rapid environmental change, human-wildlife conflict, pathogen transmission, and bioaccumulation of pesticides. Further, this approach could be incorporated into studies that estimate foraging-explicit resource selection and habitat preference.

中文翻译：

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综合饮食评估增加了城市食肉动物的摄食事件检测

城市化从根本上改变了栖息地并改变了可用资源。大型，高流动性物种的种群通常在城市-荒地交界处灭绝，而中食性食肉动物等物种则可以利用猎物丰度的变化而壮成长。我们调查了ac的饮食（Car），这是一种中等大小的猫科动物，栖息于斑驳的自然栖息地，位于南非第二大城市开普敦的密集城市矩阵中。我们通过考虑肠道运输时间，系统地整合了两种经典的饮食方法（粪便和GPS群集）。作为较大的car生态研究的一部分，我们在两年期间（2014-2016年）对26个人进行了GPS对比，以生成粗略（3小时）和精细（20分钟）的GPS运动数据。利用运动数据，我们调查了677个GPS集群中是否存在猎物。我们收集了654只小便，其中一半是在GPS集群中发现的，并且与被采样的个体有关。通过系统地校正肠道运输时间的范围，我们确定了群集地点的粪便是来自相同的还是较早的进食事件，从而使进食事件的整体检测率提高了50％以上。鸟类猎物在GPS集群发现中占主导地位，而微型哺乳动物在粪便中占绝大多数。尽管超过40％的进食事件发生在城市边缘200米以内，但car族很大程度上捕食本地物种。我们的发现对于理解某些物种在快速的环境变化，人类与野生生物的冲突，病原体的传播以及农药的生物积累方面的持久能力具有重要意义。此外，可以将这种方法纳入估计觅食-明确资源选择和生境偏好的研究中。我们的发现对理解某些物种在快速的环境变化，人类与野生动物的冲突，病原体的传播以及农药的生物积累方面的持久能力具有重要意义。此外，可以将这种方法纳入估计觅食-明确资源选择和生境偏好的研究中。我们的发现对理解某些物种在快速的环境变化，人类与野生动物的冲突，病原体的传播以及农药的生物积累方面的持久能力具有重要意义。此外，可以将这种方法纳入估计觅食-明确资源选择和生境偏好的研究中。