Spatial organisation of badgers ( Meles meles ) in a medium-density population in Luxembourg
Abstract Any hypothesis aiming to explain the social organisation of Eurasian badgers Meles meles has to consider its wide inter-population variability. We used radiotracking techniques to investigate the spatial organisation and the pattern of space-use by badger in Luxembourg, where badger density can be considered moderate compared to most of Europe. Eight badgers belonging to five social groups were caught and radio-collared. The size of individual home ranges, as assesses by 100% minimum convex polygons in spring-summer 2002 and 2003, varied from 42.5 ha to 171.8 ha. Core areas correspond... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | Artikel |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2010 |
Reihe/Periodikum: | Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy, Vol 21, Iss 1 (2010) |
Verlag/Hrsg.: |
Associazione Teriologica Italiana
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Schlagwörter: | territorial behaviour / home range size / radiotelemetry / scent marking / Science / Q / Zoology / QL1-991 |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27129456 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | https://doi.org/10.4404/hystrix-21.1-4482 |
Abstract Any hypothesis aiming to explain the social organisation of Eurasian badgers Meles meles has to consider its wide inter-population variability. We used radiotracking techniques to investigate the spatial organisation and the pattern of space-use by badger in Luxembourg, where badger density can be considered moderate compared to most of Europe. Eight badgers belonging to five social groups were caught and radio-collared. The size of individual home ranges, as assesses by 100% minimum convex polygons in spring-summer 2002 and 2003, varied from 42.5 ha to 171.8 ha. Core areas corresponded to the 50-70% kernel isopleths and covered an average of 10.1% of individual home ranges. The home ranges of badgers caught at the same sett overlapped largely (average 83.3%), whilst the overlap between neighbouring ranges did not exceed 13.8%. Altogether six boundary latrines were found at the intersection of group ranges. Overall, the spatial system of the Luxembourg badgers is quite flexible, with the boundaries of some group ranges remaining constant over the years, while others may expand or contract. Riassunto Organizzazione spaziale del tasso ( Meles meles ) in una popolazione a media densità del Lussemburgo. Qualsiasi ipotesi che voglia spiegare l’organizzazione sociale del tasso Meles meles , deve tener conto della sua ampia variabilità tra le popolazioni. Tramite la radiotelemetria e il monitoraggio delle latrine, la struttura territoriale e l’uso dello spazio da parte del tasso sono stati analizzati in una popolazione del Lussemburgo, dove la densità della specie può essere considerata intermedia rispetto ai valori noti per il resto dell’Europa. Sono stati marcati con radio-collari otto tassi, appartenenti a cinque diversi gruppi sociali. Le dimensioni delle aree vitali, stimate con il minimo poligono convesso al 100% per il periodo primaverile-estivo del 2002 e 2003, sono risultate comprese tra 42.5 e 171.8 ha. Le core areas, delimitate dalle isoplete al 50-70% ottenute con il metodo kernel, includevano, in ...