Spatiotemporal partitioning between sympatric hares and their predators

Assessing spatiotemporal activity patterns of carnivores and prey, and their overlaps, provides key insights into behavioural adaptations for mitigating competition and predation. Camera-trapping has improved our potential to conduct systematic studies of activity patterns and spatiotemporal niche overlap on mammalian guilds and, particularly, to monitor the presence and the spatiotemporal behaviour of species of conservation concern. In this study, we used 30 fixed camera traps to investigate spatiotemporal partitioning among two lagomorphs and their shared terrestrial predators (i.e., the grey wolf Canis lupus, the red fox Vulpes vulpes, the pine marten Martes martes, the European badger Meles meles and the wildcat Felis silvestris), in two similar natural reserves located in Apennine forests of central Italy. We obtained 10,043 independent videos in six months of monitoring, including the two target hare species, i.e. the European brown hare Lepus europaeus and the protected endemic Apennine hare L. corsicanus, and their predators. Our results indicate a high temporal overlap between hares, particularly at dusk and dawn, which suggests potential competition for shared resources. Conversely, moderate spatial overlap and distinct habitat preferences suggest habitat partitioning as co-existence mechanism between European brown hares and Apennine hares. Apennine hares are strongly associated with wooded areas, whereas European brown hares favour open habitats. Both species avoided bright moonlight nights, as an anti-predatory strategy. The higher spatial overlap of Apennine hares with predators suggests that this Italian endemic species may face higher predation pressure, potentially exacerbating competition with the more abundant European brown hare.