Dietary partitioning of fishers and martens in a rapidly changing landscape

Abstract

Niche partitioning is critical for the stable coexistence of competing species that share limited resources. Yet, niches are dynamic, especially in the face of rapid environmental change. Carnivores exhibit particularly strong forms of competition and are differentially affected by change. Fishers (Pekania pennanti) and martens (Martes caurina) are two species of carnivores that overlap in space, time, and resources. In the Sierra Nevada of California, these two species share habitats that are undergoing a sudden restructuring due to drought and the subsequent mortality of more than half of all trees. Using a long-term dataset from across the affected region of the Sierra Nevada, we quantified the diet, as well as dietary niche overlap and niche shift of fishers and martens during summer months before, during, and after these disturbances and as a function of spatial overlap. The summer diet of fishers and martens did not appear to be affected by change in live forest canopy and tree mortality. While fisher diet was unaffected by elevation, martens exhibited an increasing reliance on vertebrate prey at higher elevations. Our results suggest that during summer months the diet of fishers is highly diverse, even including fungi and insects, but the diet of martens is less diverse and more reliant on vertebrate prey. These different consumption patterns — which were largely unaffected by changing environmental conditions, except elevation — have led to unexpectedly low overlap in trophic niche space during the timeframe measured. Our findings demonstrate that the coexistence of martens and fishers regionally is likely facilitated, in part, through partitioning along the trophic niche axis. If drought conditions persist and lead to continued or increasingly reduced snowpack and altered vegetation, future research should assess how niche partitioning of fishers, martens, and other members of the broader carnivore community will endure.