Winter habitat use, niche breadth and overlap between the red fox, pine marten and raccoon dog in different landscapes of Lithuania

Abstract

Winter habitat use, niche breadth and overlap between the native and invasive species of medium sized predators, the red fox, pine marten and raccoon dog in particular, were studied in three landscapes with different habitat structure in Lithuania. Meadows were preferred by foxes but avoided by raccoon dogs and pine martens. Pine martens intensively used various forest habitats, whilst raccoon dogs tended to prefer swamps. The habitat niche breadth (Hurlbert's standardized niche breadth) varied with respect to both the species and the study site. The habitat niche overlap was larger between raccoon dog and pine marten than that between raccoon dog and red fox. Our results suggest a low impact of the invasive raccoon dog on red fox and pine marten in studied landscapes.