Anthropogenic structures and disturbances might also influence the activity patterns of the wildcat (see Anile et al. The process of colonization or recolonization exposes wildcats to even greater consequences of direct and indirect anthropogenic threats, such as habitat loss and fragmentation, hybridization with domestic cats and direct persecution (Yamaguchi et al. Currently, some European wildcat populations are locally expanding, partially recovering the species’ historical distribution range (Ragni and Mandrici 2003 Steyer et al. This felid is included in CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species) Appendix II, listed in the European Union Habitats and Species Directive Annex IV and the Bern Convention Appendix II. The European wildcat is fully protected over most of its range, under national and international legislations. Therefore, activity patterns need to be considered in different environmental contexts (e.g. Moreover, geographic differences in genetic structure and ethological features (i.e.: valerian lures response) have been reported (Mattucci et al 2013 Velli et al. Indeed, patterns of the temporal behaviour of species may change with habitat, latitude, presence of competitors or mating opportunities (Pearman et al. Conversely, the temporal activity level has been partially overlooked, in particular on a large scale (Anile et al. 2019) have already been studied in detail, although large scale evaluations are still sparse.
2022) and spatial behaviour (Monterroso et al. Some aspects of the wildcat ecology including population dynamics, population density (Anile et al. During daylight hours, the wildcat usually exploits resting sites, i.e., shelter structures, mainly at the limits of the forests (Jerosch et al. The European wildcat Felis silvestris is widely reported as a strictly nocturnal carnivore, living at low population densities throughout Europe and with a discontinuous distribution range (Daniels et al. We suggested limited plasticity in activity rhythm patterns of the wildcat, emphasizing the importance of dark hours for this species.Įcological studies on elusive carnivores are particularly challenging, as these mammals are often threatened species that generally live in low population densities, with a fragmented distribution (Gese 2001).
Conversely, the distance to paved roads seems to have no significant effects on diurnal activity, suggesting that, in presence of natural shelters, the wildcat probably may tolerate these infrastructures. Diurnal activity was greater in the warm months and decreased with the distance from shrubs and woodlands, most likely according to activity rhythms of its main prey, water presence in summer, the care of offspring and the availability of shelter sites. The wildcat was mainly active on the darkest nights, reducing its activity in bright moonlight nights. We observed a high overlap of wildcat activity rhythms between different biogeographical and latitudinal zones. We showed that the wildcat in Italy exhibits a > 70% nocturnal behaviour, with 20% of diurnal activity, at all spatial scales, and throughout the whole year, with peaks at 10.00 p.m. We conducted the analysis on a total of 975 independent events collected in 2009–2021, from 285 locations, in ~ 65,800 camera days. Lastly, we also tested whether the effect of moon phases affected the wildcat activity. The activity rhythms patterns were also calculated according to temporal scales: (1) warm semester (2) cold semester and (3) seasonal scales. In this study, we estimated activity rhythm patterns of this felid, by means of camera-trapping at three spatial scales: (i) whole country (Italy) (ii) biogeographical areas (iii) latitudinal zones. The European wildcat is a threatened carnivore, whose ecology is still scarcely studied, especially in Mediterranean areas.
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