Human activity mediates reciprocal distribution and niche separation of two sympatric mongoose species on the Pothwar Plateau, Pakistan

Abstract

Ecologically and morphologically similar species living in sympatry are predicted to partition their resources, although theresources themselves may vary in time and space and in relation to extrinsic factors. We studied two sympatric species of carnivores thatvary in their distribution along a gradient of human activity, and one species exploits a wider range of food sources. We recorded thedistribution of the small Indian mongoose ( Herpestes javanicus ) and the gray mongoose ( Herpestes edwardsii ) through reconnaissancesurveys within high, medium, and low human activity areas of the Pothwar Plateau from November 2011 to June 2013. We found thatthe distribution of the two mongoose species interacted significantly with human activity levels; the small Indian mongoose was highlydistributed where human activity level was high and vice versa for the gray mongoose. The gray mongoose showed a wider food nichebreadth compared to the small Indian mongoose, while the food niche measured by Pianka s index overlapped between the two speciesat 0.95. Thus it is concluded that human-induced changes in the landscape impact on the habitat selection of mongooses on the PothwarPlateau.