Spatial heterogeneity facilitates coexistence between striped hyaenas and sympatric carnivores

Aim: Interspecific competition plays a key role in shaping carnivore communities. Top-down effects can impact the coexistence of superordinate and subordinate competitors and prey across a shared landscape. Limited resources, their abundance and diminishing habitats can all exacerbate interspecific competition. Sometimes, behavioural mechanisms or adaptations are critical for subordinate carnivores to coexist with larger species. Here, we investigated the distribution pattern of the striped hyaena (Hyaena hyaena) population with respect to habitat features, sympatric carnivores and their prey species across a large landscape.Location: Western and Eastern Ghats, India.Taxon: Striped hyaena.Methods: We collected presence-absence data for hyaenas, tigers, leopards, dholes and their prey using camera-trapping and indirect sign surveys. Using a random forest algorithm, we modelled the local distribution of hyaenas as a function of important ecological variables, including climate, domestic prey abundance and the predicted probabilities of occurrence of other large carnivores and their prey.Results: We found that striped hyaenas were confined to relatively small, discrete areas compared to the three other predators, likely a mechanism for achieving coexistence in the landscape. Our empirical results suggested that hyaenas tend to avoid high occurrence probability areas of their co-predators at a landscape level but foothold opportunities such as, arid climatic conditions, and prey abundance primarily determined spatial incumbency. Coexistence in an area with low to medium relative abundance of co-predators offsets the interplay between carcass acquisition and risk associated. The coexistence of species was favoured by altitudinal heterogeneity probably providing denning refugia and also by their preference towards suboptimal thorn forests that sustain a low density of co-predators.Main Conclusions: Our study showed a desisting impact of large predators on the distribution of the striped hyaena population. Furthermore, we suggest preventing habitat alteration in suboptimal habitats of large carnivores to facilitate coexistence in a shared landscape.

Automated summary

Interspecific competition plays a key role in shaping carnivore communities. The striped hyaena population has a restricted distribution compared to other predators, likely as a mechanism for coexistence. Climate and prey abundance primarily determine spatial incumbency, while altitudinal heterogeneity and suboptimal habitats also support coexistence.