Spatiotemporal activity of the pine marten Martes martes: Insights from an island population

Abstract

Behavioral interference and interspecific competition shape the spatiotemporal behavior of carnivores, where intra-guild predation has been recorded as a strategy to limit competition. Very often, disentangling the effect of intra-guild effects from other ecological processes is challenging, if not impossible. This work aimed to assess the spatiotemporal behavior of the pine marten Martes martes in an island ecosystem without any intra-guild predation. Using an intensive camera-trap survey on Elba Island, Italy, we estimated occupancy, detection probability, and locomotor rhythms of the species. The pine marten occurred throughout the study area, showing a tendency to avoid urban areas during the high tourist season. Occupancy was higher in colder months and lowered in autumn, following opposite fluctuations of recorded human presence. Conversely, the detection probability remained low throughout the year, confirming the pine marten elusiveness. With other studies conducted in sympatry with other carnivores or predators, Elba Island martens showed locomotor ground activity mostly at dawn and dusk throughout the year, with an increasing diurnal locomotor activity in spring, when cubs are present. The spatiotemporal behavior of the pine marten in Elba island did show little variation across seasons. It was similar to those reported where potential predators were present, suggesting the intra-guild predation not playing a significant role in shaping the spatiotemporal activity of pine martens.