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Structure and land use in a low-density
Mediterranean population of badgers
Journal
Canadian
Journal of Zoology, Volume 82, Number 9, 1 September 2004, pp.
1493-1502(10)
Authors
Rosalino, Luís M.; Macdonald,
David White; Santos-Reis,
Margarida
Abstract
Eurasian badgers, Meles meles (L., 1758), have an
extensive geographic range throughout which their social organization
varies. Their capacity for intraspecific variation can now best be
understood by studying them in landscapes that differ from the lush,
lowland farmland where their tendency to form large groups has been most
intensively investigated. Badgers in cork oak (Quercus suber L.) woodland
are thus a priority for study, as this Mediterranean landscape provides an
extreme contrast to those studied elsewhere. In this habitat in Portugal,
we found 0.36–0.48 badgers/km2, one of the lowest population densities
recorded in Western Europe. Here, individuals used seasonally stable home
ranges that averaged 4.46 km2 and that were occupied by 3–4 adults plus
3–4 cubs of the year. In this landscape, badgers selectively used cork oak
woodland with understory and riparian vegetation. As predicted by the
resource dispersion hypothesis, home-range size was positively correlated
with food-patch dispersion. In southwestern Portugal, badgers depend upon
an environmental mosaic such as olive groves and orchards and vegetable
gardens for food and cork oak woodlands for shelter and protection.
Keywords
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