ArticleScientific reports2023
Trophic downgrading of an adaptable carnivore in an urbanising landscape.
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Human Pressure Structures Range Contraction and Recovery Potential of the Snow Leopard.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Creek Beds and Cape Hares: Spatial and Seasonal Determinants of Caracal Movement and Diet in a Hyperarid Desert Ecosystem.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Morphological and Genetic Assessments of Coyote Diet in Qualla Boundary, North Carolina, Show Interaction with Humans.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Utilisation of Anthropogenic Food by Red Foxes (Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- The Cat's Whiskers: Stable Isotopes Reveal Individual Specialisation of Adaptable Caracals (Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Urban biodiversity in the Anthropocene.Scientific reports · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Urbanisation critically alters wildlife habitat and resource distribution, leading to shifts in trophic dynamics. The loss of apex predators in human-transformed landscapes can result in changes in the ecological roles of the remaining mesocarnivores. Decreased top-down control together with increased bottom-up forcing through greater availability of anthropogenic foods can result in a predation paradox. Understanding these changes is important for conserving ecological function and biodiversity in rapidly urbanising systems. Here, we use stable isotope analysis to provide insight into longer term changes in trophic position, niche width and overlap of an elusive, medium-sized urban adapter, the caracal (Caracal caracal) in and around the city of Cape Town, South Africa. Using fur samples (n = 168) from individuals along a gradient of urbanisation we find that overall caracals have a broad isotopic dietary niche that reflects their large variation in resource use. When accounting for underlying environmental differences, the intensity of anthropogenic pressure, measured using the Human Footprint Index (HFI), explained variation in both food subsidy use (δ
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