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Dietary Differentiation Mitigates Interspecific Interference Competition Between Sympatric Pallas’s Cats (Otocolobus manul) and Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes)
by
Dong Wang
1,2, 
Quanbang Li
1,3,
Jingyu Gao
1,3,
Luyi Hou
1,3,
Yanjun Zou
1,3 and
Xinming Lian
1,3,4,* 1
Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
2
School of Geographical Science, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810016, China
3
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
4
Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining 810008, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Animals 2025, 15(9), 1267; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15091267 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 27 March 2025
/
Revised: 25 April 2025
/
Accepted: 28 April 2025
/
Published: 29 April 2025
(This article belongs to the Section Ecology and Conservation)
Simple Summary
The differential utilization of food resources plays a critical role in alleviating the intensity of competition among sympatric carnivorous species. In the Sanjiangyuan National Park (SNP), there are 13 species of small carnivores (body mass < 15 kg); however, the partitioning of trophic niches among these local carnivore species remains poorly understood. The sympatrically distributed small carnivores, the Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul Palls, 1776) and the red fox (Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus, 1758), exhibit significant spatial overlap within the SNP, yet their dietary niche differentiation remains inadequately understood. To bridge this knowledge gap, we employed DNA barcoding technology to analyze the dietary composition and differences between these two predator species. Our findings demonstrate that the differential use of food resources is essential for mitigating interspecific competition among local small carnivores and promoting regional coexistence.
Abstract
The comparative analysis of the feeding ecology among sympatric small carnivores reveals both differentiation and overlap in resource utilization patterns, which serves as a critical pathway for understanding interspecific interactions and maintaining ecosystem stability. In this study, we collected fecal samples from sympatric Pallas’s cats (Otocolobus manul, n = 26) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes, n = 13) within the Sanjiangyuan National Park (SNP) in China. Subsequently, DNA barcoding technology was employed to analyze the dietary composition and interspecific differences of these two small carnivores. The results demonstrated that both species primarily prey on plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) and small rodents. Despite a high trophic niche overlap between Pallas’s cats and red foxes (Ojk = 0.81), interspecific competition is mitigated through differentiate feeding proportions of shared prey species. Furthermore, the trophic niche breadth of red foxes (B = 267.89) exceeds that of Pallas’s cats (B = 162.94), reflecting a greater diversity of prey resources utilized by red foxes. Consequently, the two small carnivores achieve sympatric coexistence via differentiated resource utilization. These findings enhance our understanding of the coexistence mechanisms within carnivore communities and provide a scientific basis for the conservation of wildlife in the SNP.
