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The feeding behaviour of the puma (Puma concoLor) is a fundamental characteristic that guarantees its evolutionary success. It is one of the primary factors associated with its widespread distribution, including hostile regions like the Brazilian Caatinga, a semi-arid biome. We investigate the feeding ecology of the puma in a protected area located in the Caatinga by describing its diet and evaluating patterns of prey selection mediated by energetic trade-off and meeting probability. We found ten prey species consumed by pumas, with the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) representing almost half of consumed prey items. Prey selection by puma was correlated with an overlap of activity patterns between predator and prey, suggesting that meeting probability is an important topic in its foraging ecology. Due to the predominance of a single prey species, the puma showed a narrow niche breadth (standardised Levins' index = 0.113), positing the collared peccary as a critical element in the persistence of puma in the area. The puma is commonly described as a generalist predator since it feeds on a broad range of species across its distribution area; however, our results and recent literature suggest a more specialised diet at a local scale. This apparent contradiction could indicate that the puma diet is subject to a hierarchical organisation on a spatial scale, in which different local specialisations and adaptive strategies would lead to a generalist feeding behaviour at the distributional scale. It is important to highlight that we did not find any evidence of livestock depredation, which is a significant result from a conservation perspective, which favours puma conservation in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population estimates of male Western Capercaillies Tetrao urogallus were carried out during the mating season using two methods: counts of singing males and non-invasive genetic analysis. Estimates of male numbers were 50% lower using the singing counts compared to the estimates obtained through genetic analysis, and underestimates were greatest when the number of Capercaillies was lowest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Details of how, why and in what conditions large felids make scrapes is unknown. Here, we examined the general hypothesis about the use of scrapes for marking proposals, as well as to communicate with other individuals to signalize particular points or areas of interest, by studying scrape-marking behaviour of jaguars and pumas. Methods. We surveyed by scrapes between five days and two months mainly during dry season in five study areas from Mexico (El Edén and San Ignacio), Belize (Cockscomb) and Brazil (Angatuba and Serra das Almas), which differed in presence and/or abundance of jaguars and pumas. Paths were slowly walked while searching for scrapes by teams normally composed of two people and tracks were stored in GPS, distinguishing the type of path surveyed (unpaved track roads, trails and cross-country). Results. We found a total of 269 felid scrapes along 467 km of paths surveyed, obtaining a finding rate of 0.576 scrapes per km. Most scrapes were found in car tracks (0.629 scrapes per km), followed by trails (0.581 scrapes per km), and rarely did we find scrapes in cross country (0.094 scrapes per km). In trails, scrapes were found in a similar frequency in the centre and edge, whereas in car tracks they were mainly found in the edge. There were also clear differences in the position of the scrapes between study areas that differed in presence and/or abundance of pumas and jaguars, with scrapes located mainly in the centre in areas only with pumas, in the centre and in the edge in areas with a similar number of jaguars and pumas, and in the edge in area mainly dominated by jaguars. The remarking rate tended to be higher in one of the areas with only pumas where natural vegetation was scarcer. Felids chose sites mainly covered by leaves and located in paths less wide, clean and rarely used. Discussion. Scraping was a frequent behaviour in the largest felids of America, although in some areas, scraping behaviour was rare. Scrapes seem to be signalizing some specific areas within territories and data suggest that they are made with the proposal of communication between individuals. It seems that a high scraping behaviour in pumas is not related to the presence of jaguars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Similar, coexisting species often segregate along the spatial ecological axis. Here, we examine if two top predators (jaguars and pumas) present different fine-scale habitat use in areas of coexistence, and discuss if the observed pattern can be explained by the risk of interference competition between them. Interference competition theory predicts that pumas should avoid habitats or areas used by jaguars (the dominant species), and as a consequence should present more variability of niche parameters across study areas. We used non-invasive genetic sampling of faeces in 12 different areas and sensor satellite fine-scale habitat indices to answer these questions. Meta-analysis confirmed differences in fine-scale habitat use between jaguars and pumas. Furthermore, average marginality of the realized niches of pumas was more variable than those of jaguars, and tolerance (a measure of niche breadth) was on average 2.2 times higher in pumas than in jaguars, as expected under the interference competition risk hypothesis. The use of sensor satellite fine-scale habitat indices allowed the detection of subtle differences in the environmental characteristics of the habitats used by these two similar top predators, which, as a rule, until now were recorded using the same general habitat types. The detection of fine spatial segregation between these two top predators was scale-dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La lamproie marine (Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus, 1758) a une vaste aire de répartition, comprenant les deux rivages de l'Atlantique Nord, ainsi que la mer Méditerranée. Il est communément admis que l'espèce est présente au Maroc, mais les différentes occurrences de celle-ci dans le pays datent de la première moitié du 20e siècle et seulement sur la côte Atlantique. Nous rapportons ici la présence de lamproies marines adultes dans l'oued Moulouya, la plus grande rivière marocaine débouchant sur la mer Méditerranée. Nous insistons également sur la nécessité de développer des études écologiques sur cette rivière, notamment pour la lamproie marine et d'autres poissons migrateurs, comme Alosa algeriensis Regan, 1916, encore relativement mal connue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]