Study of the distribution of mustelids over the Southern Urals using noninvasive methods

Noninvasive methods (interviews, feces collection, DNA analysis, and trail camera traps) allowed us to identify the most widespread mustelid species and assess the pattern of their distribution over the territory of the region. Two mustelid species—the American mink and common marten—are predominant in the Southern Urals. In summer and autumn, the American mink prefers brooks emptying into large rivers, whereas the common marten is more frequently met along banks of forest brooks and rivers with channel widths not exceeding 3 m. Whereas in usual conditions we observe spatial segregation between different mustelid species, extreme situations force mustelids to form multispecies communities on the banks of water bodies, where a mutual avoidance is reached by the temporal segregation strategy of circadian activity.