Abstract
Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and Asiatic jackal (Canis aureus) are sympatric in many areas of their distribution range. Knowledge of the spatio-temporal niche segregation and habitat status of the species is important for effective conservation planning and management. In the current study, we investigated comparative spatio-temporal patterns of distribution and modeling habitat suitability of red fox and Asiatic jackal, in the Pothwar Plateau. Camera trapping, direct field sighting, recovering dead bodies, den sightings, scats and bioacoustics surveys were conducted from November 2018 to October 2020 to record data from four districts of the Plateau. The time of photos captured from camera traps was used to calculate the coefficient of temporal niche overlap using the overlap package in R software. To model the suitability of habitat, a total of twenty-six types of variables including 19 bioclimatic and seven other environmental variables were used. Results revealed a coefficient of temporal niche overlap between the two canid species as 4 = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.34-0.60. The red fox was found active during late night hours while the Asiatic jackal was found active during dawn and dusk, segregating their temporal niche. Habitat suitability modeling performed well in terms of AUC (0.840 and 0.824) and TSS (0.675 and 0.615) and identified land use and distance to poultry farms as major drivers of habitat suitability for both red fox and Asiatic jackal, respectively. Major factors determining habitat suitability of red fox and Asiatic jackal were land use cover and distance from poultry farms, respectively. Highly suitable habitats of red fox are present in the southern, central, and western parts of the study area while suitable habitat for Asiatic jackal is spread over the entire study area with few pockets of least suitable habitat. Furthermore, habitat suitability modeling revealed that 40.0% and 50.0% area of the Pothwar Plateau is highly suitable for red fox and Asiatic jackal, respectively. The study concludes that both canid species show temporal adjustments for their co-existence and suitable habitat for red fox is predominantly located on the southern side of the study area, whereas Asiatic jackal's suitable habitat is dispersed throughout the entire study area.