Data for: Perceived risk structures the space use of competing carnivores

Competition structures ecological communities. In carnivorans, competitive interactions are disproportionately costly to subordinate carnivores who must account for risk of interspecific killing when foraging. Accordingly, missed opportunity costs for meso-carnivores imposed by risk can benefit the smallest-bodied competitors. However, the extent to which the risk perpetuates into spatial partitioning in hierarchically structured communities remains unknown. To determine how risk-avoidance behaviors shape the space-use of carnivore communities, we studied a simple community of carnivores in northern Patagonia, Argentina: pumas (Puma concolor; an apex carnivore), culpeo foxes (Lycalopex culpaeus; a meso-carnivore), and chilla foxes (Lycalopex griseus; a small carnivore). We used multi-species occupancy models to quantify the space use within the carnivore community and giving-up densities to understand the behaviors that structure space use. Notably, we applied an analytical framework th...竞争构建生态群落结构。在食肉目类群中，种间竞争互动对从属食肉动物的代价尤为高昂——这类动物在觅食时必须提防种间杀戮的风险。据此，风险给中型食肉动物带来的机会成本损失，反而可能使体型最小的竞争者获益。然而，目前仍不清楚这种风险在层级结构化群落中会在多大程度上催生空间分隔格局。为探明风险规避行为如何影响食肉动物群落的空间利用模式，我们在阿根廷巴塔哥尼亚北部研究了一个简单的食肉动物群落：美洲狮（Puma concolor；顶级食肉动物）、南美灰狐（Lycalopex culpaeus；中型食肉动物）以及阿根廷狐（Lycalopex griseus；小型食肉动物）。我们采用多物种占用模型（multi-species occupancy models）量化该食肉动物群落的空间利用情况，并通过放弃密度（giving-up densities）解析驱动空间利用格局的行为机制。值得注意的是，我们运用了一套分析框架……