Data for: Carnivore niche partitioning in a human landscape

To minimize competitive overlap, carnivores modify one of their critical
niche axes: space, time, or resources. However, we currently lack rules
for how carnivore communities operate in human-dominated landscapes. We
simultaneously quantified overlap in the critical niche axes of a simple
carnivore community – an apex carnivore (Puma concolor), a dominant
meso-carnivore (Lycalopex culpaeus), and a subordinate meso-carnivore (L.
griseus) – in a human-landscape featuring pastoralists and semi-domestic
carnivores (i.e., dogs Canis familiaris). We found that dominant species
had strong negative effects on the space-use of subordinate ones, which
ultimately created space for subordinate small-carnivores. Humans and dogs
were strictly diurnal, whereas the native carnivore community was
nocturnal and exhibited high temporal overlap. Dietary overlap was high
among the native carnivores, but dogs were trophically decoupled, largely
because of human food subsidies. Our results show that in landscapes with
evident human presence, temporal and dietary partitioning among native
carnivores can be limited, leaving space as the most important axis to be
partitioned among carnivores. We believe that these findings – the first
to simultaneously assess all three critical niche axes among competing
carnivores and humans and their associated species (i.e., domesticated
carnivores) – are transferable to other carnivore communities in human
modified landscapes.