Determinants of red fox occupancy patterns in Portugal: a large scale approach

• Autor(a) principal: Quezado, Luisa Maria de Mattos Vieira
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/40921
• topic: National scale; Regional scale; Occupancy models; Environmental changes; Vulpes vulpes

Studies focusing on identifying the drivers and ecological mechanisms of species occupancy patterns at a large scale are important to understand how they may react to environmental changes and obtain information on how to manage and protect them. In this study, I compiled camera trapping data from different scientific projects to, for the first time, attempt to determine the relevant ecological drivers of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) occupancy patterns in Continental Portugal and in its North and South regions, by using single-species/single-season occupancy models. The results showed that the model that best explained the occupancy patterns was the null model. This reveals that, at a large scale, the tested variables did not have an influence on red fox occupancy patterns in Portugal, indicating that the studied species has a high adaptative plasticity, being able to adapt to environmental changes that occur throughout the country. Therefore, future large-scale modelling should test the effects of other variables on red fox occupancy (such as topography and abundance of other prey types). The results also indicated a slight positive influence of the abundance of domestic dogs on the probability of detection and occupancy of red foxes, suggesting that may be benefiting from a high abundance of dogs. However, more studies are needed on the spatio-temporal interactions between these two species to better understand their ecological relationships. In conclusion, I encourage studies similar to mine to be carried out in order to better comprehend the factors that determine red fox occupancy patterns in Portugal, so that we can continue to monitor them.