title: Diet Overlap and Foraging Activity between Feral Pigs and Native Peccaries in the Pantanal.
abstract: Inter-specific competition is considered one of the main selective pressures affecting species distribution and coexistence. Different species vary in the way they forage in order to minimize encounters with their competitors and with their predators. However, it is still poorly known whether and how native species change their foraging behavior in the presence of exotic species, particularly in South America. Here we compare diet overlap of fruits and foraging activity period of two sympatric native ungulates (the white-lipped peccary, Tayassu pecari, and the collared peccary, Pecari tajacu) with the invasive feral pig (Sus scrofa) in the Brazilian Pantanal. We found high diet overlap between white-lipped peccaries and feral pigs, but low overlap between collared peccaries and feral pigs. Furthermore, we found that feral pigs may influence the foraging period of both native peccaries, but in different ways. In the absence of feral pigs, collared peccary activity peaks in the early evening, possibly allowing them to avoid white-lipped peccary activity peaks, which occur in the morning. In the presence of feral pigs, collared peccaries forage mostly in early morning, while white-lipped peccaries forage throughout the day. Our results indicate that collared peccaries may avoid foraging at the same time as white-lipped peccaries. However, they forage during the same periods as feral pigs, with whom they have lower diet overlap. Our study highlights how an exotic species may alter interactions between native species by interfering in their foraging periods.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galetti
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Hiléia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Camargo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tadeu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Siqueira
authors.affiliation: Wildlife Conservation Society, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keuroghlian
authors.affiliation: The Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science and Oceans, Conservation International, Arlington, Virginia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Camila I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Donatti
authors.affiliation: Depatment of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America.
authors.forename: Maria Luisa S P
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Jorge
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pedrosa
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Claudia Z
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Kanda
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Milton C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001188:Artiodactyla / Q000502:physiology*; D001938:Brazil; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D008297:Male; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000502:physiology*