Fine-Scale Interactions between Leopard Cats and Their Potential Prey with Contrasting Diel Activities in a Livestock-Dominated Nature Reserve

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The spatiotemporal interactions between predators and their prey can be largely changed by livestock encroachment. Using camera trapping technology, we found that the two prey guilds with contrasting diel activities, nocturnal rats and diurnal squirrels, showed different habitat preferences with their predator, leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis). We also found that the fine-scale spatiotemporal use of leopard cats was consistent and highly correlated with that of nocturnal rats under livestock disturbance. Our results indicate that livestock disturbance could modify the site-use and temporal activities between leopard cats and their prey. ABSTRACT: Habitat use and the temporal activities of wildlife can be largely modified by livestock encroachment. Therefore, identifying the potential impacts of livestock on the predator–prey interactions could provide essential information for wildlife conservation and management. From May to October 2017, we used camera trapping technology to investigate fine-scale spatiotemporal interactions in a predator–prey system with the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) as a common mesopredator, and its prey with contrasting activity patterns (i.e., nocturnal rats and diurnal squirrels) in a livestock-dominated nature reserve in Northern China. We found that the prey species showed different habitat preferences with the leopard cats. The nocturnal rats had strong positive effects on the site-use of the leopard cats, while the influence of livestock on the diurnal squirrels’ site-use changed from strong positive effects to weak effects as the livestock disturbance increased. The temporal overlap between the leopard cats and the nocturnal rats was almost four times that of the leopard cats and the diurnal squirrels, regardless of the livestock disturbance. Our study demonstrated that the fine-scale spatiotemporal use patterns of the leopard cats were consistent and highly correlated with the nocturnal rats under livestock disturbance. We suggest that appropriate restrictions on livestock disturbance should be implemented by reserve managers to reduce the threat to wildlife and achieve multi-species coexistence.