10.5061/DRYAD.CZ8W9GJ5J
Lanszki, József
0000-0002-2067-6601
Magyar Agrár- és Élettudományi Egyetem
Hayward, Matthew W.
University of Newcastle Australia
Ranc, Nathan
University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès
Zalewski, Andrzej
0000-0003-4518-2787
Polish Academy of Sciences
Dietary flexibility promotes range expansion: the case of golden jackals
in Eurasia
Dryad
dataset
2022
FOS: Biological sciences
2022-03-25T00:00:00Z
2022-03-25T00:00:00Z
en
22190 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Aim: Exploring the drivers of the successful ongoing expansion of the
golden jackal across Europe is essential to understand the species’
trophic ecology. We analysed which climatic and environmental factors
affected the dietary composition of golden jackals and compared these
drivers in the species’ historic and recently colonised distribution
ranges. Location: Eurasia. Taxon: golden jackal (Canis aureus). Methods:
Using 40 published data sets, we modelled the diet composition using 13
food categories based on the relative frequency of occurrence of food
items and trophic niche breadth (BA) against climatic and environmental
factors from throughout the jackals’ recently colonised (22 studies) and
historic range (18 studies). Results: The proportion of small mammals in
golden jackal diet decreased with annual mean temperature, whereas the
consumption of wild ungulates increased with environmental productivity.
Increasing temperature and environmental productivity positively
influenced niche breadth, while increasing precipitation negatively
affected it. The recently colonised distribution range of golden jackals
in Europe had a lower mean temperature but higher environmental
productivity compared to the species’ historic range in Eurasia. In the
recently-colonised range, jackals consumed small mammals and/or wild
ungulates (mostly from scavenging) more frequently, and fewer plants
and/or domestic animals (again, mostly from scavenging). Main Conclusions:
The golden jackal is an opportunistic, omnivorous carnivore with high
dietary flexibility and biogeographical variation. Climatic and
environmental factors shape the species’ diet composition, which, in a
changing environment, greatly enhances the opportunities for golden
jackals to colonise new areas successfully. Golden jackals will likely
continue to expand their range in the foreseeable future. The
species' trophic niche is expected to broaden with predictions of
overall increasing temperatures and reduced precipitation.