MAP_alignment_of_complete_dataset

MAP_alignment_of_complete_datase

highly_supported_positions_only

highly_supported_positions_onl

Red fox attacks on domestic animals in urban areas in Estonia.

<p>Red fox attacks on domestic animals in urban areas in Estonia.</p

Food types exploited by urban foxes in Estonia (see also Table 1).

<p>Numbers indicate the number of people reporting fox activities.</p

Red foxes in urban areas in Estonia.

<p>Foxes were reported in 33 towns (red points) out of 47. The numbers on the map indicate the numbers of people reporting fox sightings. Black rings around red points indicates towns where foxes with symptoms of sarcoptic mange were reported. Green points indicate the 14 towns where urban foxes were not reported. Underlining indicates towns where fox dens were reported.</p

Home ranges of raccoon dogs in managed and natural areas

<div><p>Knowledge of space use is central to understand animals’ role in ecosystems. The raccoon dog <i>Nyctereutes procyonoides</i> is considered as one of the most influential alien mesopredator species in Europe, having the potential to cause loss of local biodiversity and act as a vector for zoonotic diseases. We collared 12 animals to study their home range and habitat use in two areas with different management regimes in Estonia: in a protected natural area and in an intensively managed area. From May to October raccoon dogs inhabiting the natural area had considerably smaller home ranges compared to the managed area, 193.3ha±37.3SD and 391.9ha±292.9SD, respectively. This result contradicts somewhat earlier findings in other European raccoon dog populations, where the home range sizes in natural areas in summer and autumn period have usually been larger compared to managed areas. In both study areas raccoon dogs preferred watersides, where amphibians and other semi-aquatic prey are abundant, to other habitats available in their home ranges. We also studied movements of a raccoon dog pair in the managed study area in winter period. Due to mild weather conditions during the study period, raccoon dogs changed their resting sites quite often, covering a relatively large 599 ha area from November 2012 to January 2013, indicating the absence of usual winter lethargy during the mild winters.</p></div

Locations of study areas in Estonia.

<p>a) protected natural area in Soomaa National Park (78 ha; 58°25´N, 25°1´E); b) intensively managed area nearby Ilmatsalu borough (103 ha; 58°2´N, 26°32´E).</p

Distribution of foxes in the three largest cities in Estonia: Pärnu (A), Tallinn (B) and Tartu (C), and a photo of a fox den in the central part of Tartu (D, indicated by arrow).

<p>The city centre is denoted by a black star, and numbers indicate the number of people reporting fox sightings in different parts of the city. The black points indicate reports of foxes exhibiting symptoms of sarcoptic mange. Fox dens are shown by the letter F.</p

Sizes of 95% fixed kernel home ranges (K95) and 100% minimum convex polygon (MCP100) areas in hectares for each radio-tracked raccoon dog in Soomaa and in Ilmatsalu study area.

<p>Note that kernel home ranges were not calculated when there were less than 50 location point available for the animal.</p

Distribution of fox sightings in different months.

<p>NA denotes sightings where the month was not specified.</p