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[EN] This dataset provides the raw results of wildcat, Felis silvestris, diet, by analyses of scats collected in the Cantabriam Mountains (mainly in Montaña Palentina Natural Park, Palencia, and in Western Cantabrian Mountains between the provinces of Asturias and León; Spain) between years 2014 and 2020. The dataset provides information of 683 scats and 3120 prey items, most them rodent species., [ES] Este conjunto de datos proporciona los resultados brutos de la dieta de gatos monteses, Felis silvestris, a través del análisis de excrementos recolectados en la Cordillera Cantábrica (principalmente en el Parque Natural Montaña Palentina, Palencia, y en el oeste de la Cordillera Cantábrica en las provincias de Asturias y León; España) entre los años 2014 y 2020. El conjunto de datos proporciona información de 683 excrementos y 3120 presas, la mayoría especies de roedores.

[EN] This dataset provides the raw results of a mammalian survey campaign using trail cameras conducted between July and September 2023 (1495 trap-nights) simultaneously in Montaña Palentina Natural Park (Palencia, Spain) and Alto Sil (León, Spain). The main objective of the survey was to detect and estimate population numbers for European wildcats (Felis silvestris), but several small and large mammal species (Carnivora, Artiodactyla, Rodentia and Lagomorpha) were detected., [ES] Este conjunto de datos proporciona los resultados brutos de la campaña de fototrampeo desarrollada entre Julio y Septiembre de 2023 (1495 noches-trampa) de forma simultánea en el Parque Natural de Montaña Palentina (MNPN, Palencia, España) y el Alto Sil (León, Spain). El principal objetivo del muestreo era detectar y estimar números poblacionales en el gato montés europeo (Felis silvestris), pero otras especies de mamíferos (Carnivora, Artiodactyla, Rodentia and Lagomorpha) también fueron detectadas.

[EN] This dataset provides the set of images obtained during of a mammalian survey campaign using trail cameras conducted between July and September 2023 (1495 trap-nights) simultaneously in Montaña Palentina Natural Park (Palencia, Spain) and Alto Sil (León, Spain). The main objective of the survey was to detect and estimate population numbers for European wildcats (Felis silvestris), but several small and large mammal species (Carnivora, Artiodactyla, Rodentia and Lagomorpha) were detected., [ES] Este conjunto de datos proporciona el conjunto de imágenes obtenidas durante la campaña de fototrampeo desarrollada entre Julio y Septiembre de 2023 (1495 noches-trampa) de forma simultánea en el Parque Natural de Montaña Palentina (MNPN, Palencia, España) y el Alto Sil (León, Spain). El principal objetivo del muestreo era detectar y estimar números poblacionales en el gato montés europeo (Felis silvestris), pero otras especies de mamíferos (Carnivora, Artiodactyla, Rodentia and Lagomorpha) también fueron detectadas.

Land use intensification is increasing worldwide and affects wildlife movements, particularly of specialist carnivores. Resource availability and anthropogenic activities drive the extent and shape of home range size. Wildlife may respond to decreased resource availability under intensification scenarios by increasing their home ranges; however they may be less affected when inhabiting sustainable agricultural landscapes. We investigate whether agricultural practices and landscape configuration influence the spatial behaviour of wildcats, a medium-sized specialist carnivore inhabiting landscapes with different degrees of agricultural presence across Europe. We focus on the effect of the proportions of high impact and low impact agriculture, forest integrity and forest edge density on wildcat home range size. We found that wildcat home range increased along with the proportion of high impact agriculture and the forest integrity, whereas it decreased when forest edge density increased. Forest edge density buffered the detrimental effects caused by high impact agriculture. To enhance the long term conservation of wildcats in Europe it is crucial to protect the sustainable mosaic-structured landscapes and prevent its conversion to homogenous intensified agricultural landscapes.

Intraspecific communication in mammals is well-documented but generally restricted to chemical and acoustic signaling. However, other overlooked channels, such as visual signaling, may be used to communicate among conspecifics. Here, by using experimental manipulations together with camera traps on 13 brown bear (Ursus arctos) rubbing trees in the Cantabrian Mountains (northwestern Spain), we document detailed temporal patterns and behavioral aspects of a recently discovered novel communication channel for this species, visual signaling through the trunk debarking of focal trees. Video footage showed that visual marking is a sex-, age-, and time-specific means of communication in brown bears, being performed exclusively by adult males during the mating season (mainly April–June in the study area). Trunk debarking was always associated with chemical marking and was never an isolated behavior, suggesting that visual and chemical signals might be complementary. Visual and chemical marks may provide different information; for example, visual marks could be an indicator of individual size and, thus, the dominance status of adult males looking for mating opportunities. This is the first time that evidence is provided showing that visual signaling in a large carnivore is exclusive to a specific class of individuals (adult males) and linked to reproductive needs only. Bear visual signaling not only represents an advance in our comprehension of animal communication but may also serve to easily locate the mating areas of mammals, which are crucial for large carnivore species, such as the brown bear, that frequently need specific and urgent plans for conservation and management.

Traditional agro-pastoral practices are more beneficial for biodiversity than intensified agricultural systems. Promotion of the growth of natural herbaceous vegetation in pastoral fields can enhance rodent populations and consequently influence ecological aspects of carnivores with rodent-based diets, like prey consumption in the European wildcat (Felis silvestris). In this article, we investigated the effects of pastoral field extent, season and prey abundance on wildcat consumption of several prey species in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain). Prey consumption in areas with presence of pastoral fields (even in low proportions) was dominated by profitable field-dwelling rodent species such as Arvicola monticola. Consumption of Arvicola was not correlated with its abundance and was higher during summer and autumn. Apodemus dominated the wildcat diet in areas with higher forest proportion and far from pastoral fields, particularly during spring. Our results suggest that varying habitat use and seasonal changes in prey accessibility may determine wildcat prey consumption in pastoral landscapes. Our results can contribute to highlight the potential benefits of traditional and sustainable pastoral activities for the conservation of the European wildcat across its distribution range.

Carrion production is one of the most crucial yet neglected and understudied processes in food webs and ecosystems. In this study, we performed a large-scale estimation of the maximum potential production and spatial distribution of ungulate carrion biomass from five major sources in peninsular Spain, both anthropogenic (livestock, big game hunting, roadkills) and natural (predation, natural mortality). Using standardized ungulate carrion biomass (kg/year/100km2) estimates, we evaluated the relationship between ungulate carrion production and two ecosystem-level factors: global human modification (GHM) and primary productivity (NDVI). We found that anthropogenic carrion sources supplied about 60 times more ungulate carrion biomass than natural sources (mean = 90,172 vs. 1533 kg/year/100km2, respectively). Within anthropogenic carrion sources, livestock was by far the major carrion provider (91.1% of the annual production), followed by big game hunting (7.86%) and roadkills (0.05%). Within natural carrion sources, predation of ungulates provided more carrion (0.81%) than natural mortality (0.13%). Likewise, we found that the spatial distribution of carrion differed among carrion sources, with anthropogenic carrion being more aggregated in space than natural carrion. Our models showed that GHM was positively related to carrion production from livestock and roadkills, and that wild ungulate carrion supplied by natural sources and big game hunting was more frequently generated in more productive areas (higher NDVI). These findings indicate a disconnection between the main ungulate carrion source (livestock) and primary productivity. Ongoing socio-economic changes in developed countries (for example increase of intensive livestock husbandry and rewilding processes) could lead to additional alteration of carrion production processes, with potential negative impacts at the community and ecosystem levels. Overall, we highlight that carrion biomass quantification should be c