Vulpes vulpes and Vulpes lagopus morphometric data_Canadian low Arctic

This data set contains morphometry data and individual characteristics of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and Arctic (Vulpes lagopus) legally harvested in 2017 and 2018 in and around Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. This area is located near treeline, on the western coast of the Hudson Bay, and its winters are characterized by harsh abiotic conditions and prey scarcity. A red fox population became established on the coastal tundra, possibly competing with the native Arctic fox. We used these data to quantify species-size difference to predict the potential strength of interference competition, notably the likelihood of the larger competitor escalating interference to intraguild killing. Size difference was intermediate ( see Donadio & Buskirk, 2006) in body mass and linear dimension, which would favor strong interference competition over limited resources, with a high risk of red foxes escalating interference to intraguild killing.
Animals were aged using canine cementum annuli count (Matson’s lab, Manhattan, Montana, USA). Note that we only sent canines with a proportional size of pulp cavity compared to tooth width of 40% and less, a threshold under which we considered animals were subadults.