Trophic niche of three carnivores in southern Belgium : raccoon (Procyon lotor), European badger (Meles meles) and stone marten (Martes foina)

In Belgium, a sighting of raccoons (Procyon lotor) was recorded for the very first time in 1986. Howerver, expainsion only increased from 2009, particularly in the Ardennes region. It is therefore interesting to study its invasivenees, particulaly in terms of trophic competition in relation to indigenous carnivores. This study will compare the diets of raccoons with badgers (Meles meles) and stone martens (Martes foina). To do this, 142 stomach contents of raccoons and 150 of badgers from the Southern part of Belgium were processed and analysed. For the stone marten, data from a previous study via the faeces, led in same region, were used. Raccoons mainly consume insects, corn, amphibians, dried fruits and fish, but all classes of vertebrates, invertebrates (oligochaetes, gastropods, arthropods), seeds, dried fluits, fleshy fruits and anthropogenic food remains were found. Badgers do not eat aquatic prey but consume a lot of earthworms, and to a lesser extent slugs, chafer larvae, bumblebee larvae and carrion (dormouse, squirrel...). The trophic overlap of the raccoon and badger shows partial overlap, especially of oligochaetes, maize, geotrupes, acorns and carabids (aij Pianka = 0.53). These items are very abundant in natural environnements, especially in open area. Food competition would therefore be quite low for those two species. The stone marten is quite opportunistic. Its diet mainly includes rodents, birds and hen eggs. Trophic overlap is therefore quite low between and raccoons (0.20) or badgers (0.27)