Do Roads Alter the Trophic Behavior of the Mesocarnivore Community Living Close to Them?

Roads have impacts on the fauna arising from habitat fragmentation, roadkill and the barrier effect. Furthermore, roads lead species to change their activity with repercussions on predator-prey interactions and trigger indirect effects that are currently unknown. This study analyzes the effect of a motorway on the trophic behavior of the terrestrial carnivore community of its surroundings. Monthly scat sampling was conducted over a year at three distances from a motorway (0-50 m, 500-550 m and 1000-1050 m). We collected 498 scats, these originating from red fox (39.16%), cat (24.50%), stone marten (24.09%) and badger (12.25%). The relative abundance of the trophic resources in them was estimated together with the trophic diversity and niche overlap of the carnivore species. The results showed a distinct effect of distance from the road on trophic behavior of carnivores, as well as differences between species and seasons. The scats nearest the road had 10-20% more biomass of small mammals, equivalent in relative terms to a 21-48% increase in small mammals' biomass when compared with scats collected further from the road. This finding indicates changes in predator-prey interactions near the road and shows that the human-generated structural and functional changes to ecosystems spread throughout trophic networks.

Automated summary

The study investigated the impact of roads on the trophic behavior of terrestrial carnivore communities, finding that the distance from the road affects the trophic behavior of carnivores. Scats collected near roads had a higher biomass of small mammals, indicating changes in predator-prey interactions near roads and the spread of human-generated changes throughout trophic networks.