Habitat characteristics of Eurasian pine martens Martes martes in an insular Mediterranean environment

Eurasian pine martens are considered habitat specialists, associated primarily with mature stands of mesic mixed wood forest habitats, and avoid areas without overhead cover. The species is found throughout the temperate and boreal regions of the continent but on the Mediterranean island of Minorca, introduced pine martens thrive in a competitor- and predator-free environment. I test the prediction that because of evolved prey-capture and predator avoidance strategies, Minorcan martens should select habitats most similar to temperate and northern parts of their range. Scat index routes were used to quantify pine marten habitat selection. Marten did not demonstrate any habitat type preferences although observed use of pine forests and coastal shru-blands was slighly greater than expected. Marten were indifferent to overhead cover, whereas mesic sites and areas of tall, high shrub density were favored. Small mammal trap indices and preferred prey suggested that martens commonly used non-forested areas. My results demonstrated that on Minorca, pine martens were habitat generalists. In the absence of predators, open non-forested habitats were equally important to pine marten as were forested ones.