DOI: 10.20350/digitalcsic/16234
title: Dataset for the paper "Descalzo, E; Jiménez, J.; Villafuerte, R.; Delibes-Mateos, M.; Díaz-Ruiz, F.; Ferreras, P. 2024. Quantifying the predation impact of an expanding mesocarnivore on declining small-game species"

description: [Description of methods used for collection/generation of data] European rabbits and red-legged partridge perpendicular distances from the transect line were performed along transects in vehicle at 10-15 km/h starting one hour before sunrise for rabbits and one hour after sunrise for partridges. Egyptian mongooses were captured with box-traps baited with dead chicken. Adult and subadult mongooses were tagged with VHF-GPS radio-collars, from which telemetry data were obtained. Between 42 and 45 camera-traps, baited with lynx urine and valerian extract, were deployed in each study area in a regular shaped grid with an average distance of 400 m between cameras. Mongoose sctas were collected along transects on foot in each study area.
description: [Methods for processing the data] Rabbit and partridge densities were estimated through distance sampling analysis using the Distance package in R from data obtained in transects in vehicle (MELOCAM_LineTran_Partridge.csv and MELOCAM_LineTran_Rabbit.csv). Mongoose density was estimated using a generalized spatial mark-resight model, a particular case of SMR models that includes sub-models for marking and resighting processes (Meloncillo.zip). Three data sources were considered for mongoose density estimation: 1) live capture-recapture data (ymark.txt: live capture and marking histories; mark_date.txt: live capture dates) in box-traps (traps.txt: live trap coordinates; OperMark.txt: live capture devices operation mask), 2) capture-resight data from camera-traps (CAM.txt: camera trap coordinates; ID.txt: marked individuals resight; unm.txt: unmarked individual detections; OperCam.txt: camera trap operation mask) and telemetry data (Sandia.csv: telemetry data from telemetry-tagged individuals). Mongoose diet was estimated from food remains found in scats collected in each study area. The percentage of consumed biomass (%CB) of partridges and rabbits (MELOCAM_Mong_Diet.csv) was estimated by multiplying its total dry weight found in scats by a food-specific correction factor.
description: [Purpose] To estimate the predation impact of an expanding mesocarnivore, the Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), on the populations of two declining prey species highly valued by hunters in southern Europe, the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and the red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa).
description: [Methods] We estimated the densities of mongooses, rabbits and partridges in three study areas of central Spain. Mongoose density was estimated with a generalized spatial mark-resight model including live capture-recapture data, capture-resisght data from camera-traps and telemetry data from GPS-tagged indviduals. Mongoose diet was estimated from food remains found in scats. Mongoose predation impact on rabbits and partridges was estimated by comparing the number of individuals consumed by the predator population with the estimated total prey populations.
description: [Conclusions] The predation impact on rabbits in the area with the highest rabbit density was low and higher in the other areas. In contrast, the predation impact on partridge populations was negligible or low in all the study areas.
description: MELOCAM_LineTran_Partridge.csv MELOCAM_LineTran_Rabbit.csv MELOCAM_Mong_Diet.csv Meloncillo.zip