Skład pokarmu wybranych ssaków drapieżnych na terenie Gorczańskiego Parku Narodowego

The aim of the study was to assess the diet composition of four carnivore species inhabiting the Gorce National Park (Western Carpathians, S Poland), i.e., grey wolf (Canis lupus), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and pine marten (Martes martes). The food analysis was based on scats collected between June 2016 and February 2017 along seven transects of a total length 96.13 km. Altogether 187 faeces were found, 95 of grey wolf, 20 of lynx, 49 of red fox, and 23 of pine marten, respectively. The dominant food category of wolf and lynx were ungulates, comprising respectively 98% and 95% of the consumed biomass. The trophic niche overlap between wolf and lynx was very high (Pianka’s index Ojk=0.99). However, there were differences in the consumed prey species. Wolves fed on red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and wild boar (Sus scrofa), while lynxes foraged equally on two ungulates, red deer and roe deer. Medium−sized carnivores showed greater variety in consumed food. Both pine marten and red fox had higher values of Levins’ index of the trophic niche breadth than larger carnivores and highly overlapped their diets (Ojk=0.96). Pine marten and red fox consumed mostly small mammals. Additionally, martens consumed frequently fruits, whereas red foxes foraged on carrion of ungulates. This might explain the fact that wolf and lynx overlapped their trophic niches more with red fox than with the pine marten.