Topic
Polecat
About: Polecat is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 200 publications have been published within this topic receiving 3619 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
TL;DR: The implications of this study are that recovering otter populations may not lead to significant and long-term reductions in the number of invasive mink in the United Kingdom as has been suggested in the media, although one cannot exclude the possibility of a decline in minks in the longer-term.
Abstract: The American mink, Neovison vison, is an established, alien invasive species in the United Kingdom that originally colonized the country at a time when two native mustelids (otters, Lutra lutra, and polecats, Mustela putorius) were largely absent. Both of these species are now recovering their populations nationally. We compared the relative abundance and the behavior of mink in the 1990s and in the 2000s in an area of southern England where both otters and polecats were absent in the 1990s but reappeared in the intervening years. We found that mink were still abundant in the 2000s in the presence of otters and polecats, but that they appeared to have altered some aspects of their behavior. In accordance with previous studies, we found that mink consumed fewer fish in the presence of otters. We also found that mink were predominantly nocturnal in the 1990s (in the absence of competitors) but were predominantly diurnal in the 2000s (in the presence of competitors). We hypothesize that this temporal shift may be an avoidance mechanism allowing the coexistence of mink with the otter and the polecat, although we are unable to attribute the shift to one or the other species. We also found that mink in the presence of competitors weighed less but remained the same size, suggesting the possibility of a competitor-mediated decline in overall body condition. This is one of very few field studies demonstrating a complete temporal shift in apparent response to competitors. The implications of this study are that recovering otter populations may not lead to significant and long-term reductions in the number of invasive mink in the United Kingdom as has been suggested in the media, although we cannot exclude the possibility of a decline in mink in the longer-term.
172 citations
TL;DR: The results are consistent with a rapid diversification of mustelid lineages in six different radiation episodes identified since the Early Eocene, the oldest events being the separation of subfamilies and the split of marten (Martes, Gulo) and weasel (Mustela) lineage in the Early Middle Miocene.
Abstract: The Mustelidae is a diverse family of carnivores which includes weasels, polecats, mink, tayra, martens, otters, badgers and, according to some authors, skunks. Evolutionary relationships within the family are under debate at a number of different taxonomic levels, and incongruencies between molecular and morphological results are important. We analysed a total of 241 cytochrome b (cyt b) gene sequences and 33 sequences of a complex repetitive flanking region from 33 different species to compile an extensive molecular phylogeny for the Mustelidae. We analysed these sequences and constructed phylogenetic trees using Bayesian and neighbor-joining methods that are evaluated to propose changes to the taxonomy of the family. The peripheral position of skunks in phylogenetic trees based on both loci suggests that they should be considered a separate family, Mephitidae. The subfamily Melinae is the basal group within the Mustelidae and trees based on the cyt b gene suggest that the American badger, Taxidea taxus, should be considered a separate monotypic subfamily, Taxidiinae. Otters classified within the genera Lutra, Amblonyx and Aonyx are grouped within the same clade in cyt b and combined partial cyt b and flanking region trees and show reduced levels of inter specific divergence, suggesting that they could be classified together under a single genus, Lutra. The Bayesian tree based on combined data from both loci supports the idea that subfamily Mustelinae is paraphyletic, as otters (subfamily Lutrinae) are included in this subfamily. Low levels of genetic divergence among European polecat, Mustela putorius, steppe polecat, Mustela eversmannii, and European mink, Mustela lutreola, suggest that these species could be considered subspecies within a single species, Mustela putorius. Our results are consistent with a rapid diversification of mustelid lineages in six different radiation episodes identified since the Early Eocene, the oldest events being the separation of subfamilies and the split of marten (Martes, Gulo) and weasel (Mustela) lineages in the Early Middle Miocene. The separation of New World from Old World lineages and the split of the remaining genera are estimated to have occurred in Late Miocene. The most recent events have been the differentiation of species within genera and this probably occurred in four radiation episodes at the end of Late Miocene, Early Pliocene, Late Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs.
88 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the diet composition of the native riparian mustelids: the otter Lutra lutra, the European mink Mustela lutreola, the polecat M putorius, and the naturalized one, the American mink M vison, was studied in relation to seasonal changes of the habitats (the Lovat river, NE Belarus).
Abstract: In 1986-1997, diet composition of the native riparian mustelids: the otter Lutra lutra (Linnaeus, 1758), the European mink Mustela lutreola (Linnaeus, 1761), the polecat M putorius (Linnaeus, 1758), and the naturalized one, the American mink M vison (Schreber, 1777) was studied in relation to seasonal changes of the habitats (the Lovat river, NE Belarus)
76 citations
TL;DR: The population genetic implications of mating system were investigated in European polecat Mustela putorius populations from western France, combining radiotracking survey and allozyme variation analysis, finding that the mating system of such solitary mustelids may be poorly efficient to prevent inbreeding within populations.
Abstract: The population genetic implications of mating system were investigated in European polecat Mustela putorius populations from western France, combining radiotracking survey and allozyme variation analysis. Mating peroid occurred from February to June and polecats showed a strategy of successive polygyny, a male consorting with 1.44 females during a brief period (2.9 days). Relatedness was largely sex biased, females (21%) being almost twice more related than males (13%) suggesting a natal philopatry. Nonetheless, breeding dispersal pattern appeared relatively complex. Males were the sex dispersing but the main strategy for male polecats consisted of short-term mating excursions in adjacent females ranges whereas long-distance dispersal only constituted an alternative breeding strategy. Despite their allozymic polymorphism level reaching 24% at p<0.05 for 38 scored loci, populations showed a high heterozygote deficiency as revealed by the FIS index averaging FIS=0.383. Thus the mating system of such solitary mustelids may be poorly efficient to prevent inbreeding within populations.
68 citations
TL;DR: The preliminary results of studies on food niches of predators in the Bialowieza National Park, the last remnant of European virgin lowland forests, are presented.
Abstract: The preliminary results of studies on food niches of predators in the Bialowieza National Park, the last remnant of European virgin lowland forests, are presented. The winter diet of seven native species (wolf, lynx, red fox, pine marten, polecat, stoat, and tawny owl) and one introduced species (racoon-dog) was determined by scat analysis. Pianka's index α of niche overlap was calculated.
66 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 7 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2019 | 3 |
| 2018 | 7 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2016 | 3 |