Abstract:
Background Apex predators exert dual effects on mesopredators, including both suppression through lethal encounters and fear, as well as facilitation through providing food via prey remains. While large-scale studies on how apex predators influence mesopredator distributions are abundant, research on how apex predators affect mesopredators at the fine scale—particularly their specific behaviors—remains limited. Results Using urine from captive Amur tigers as an apex predator cue and captive bird eggs, which served as a food source for mesopredators with minimal odor interference, we evaluated the effects of this apex predator scent on the foraging behavior of mesopredators across a 400 km2 experimental area in northeastern China over a 3-month period. Our results demonstrate that tiger urine attracted small-bodied mesopredators, increasing their visitation speed and accelerating nest predation. Asian badgers in particular perceived tiger urine as a food resource cue, stimulating their exploration and squat-marking behavior improving egg detection and predation. Conclusions With the deepening of wildlife conservation efforts, there is a growing recognition of the inherent complexity of ecosystems, underscoring the imperative for greater prudence in formulating wildlife management decisions. Our findings on the behavioral responses of small-bodied mesopredators to Amur tiger urine offer critical insights that reinforce this principle, reshaping conventional understanding of apex-mesopredator interactions in temperate forest ecosystems of Northeast China. The complexity of these interactions is further amplified by the multifaceted ecological roles of apex predators, as documented in global and regional studies. For wildlife management decisions, these insights demand a shift from one-size-fits-all approaches to context-specific, behaviorally informed strategies.
PCheng, W., Roberts, N.J., Chu, C., Liu, X., Gao, S., She, W., Liu, D., Huang, B., Bao, W., Liu, Z., Qi, J., Gu, J., Bao, H., Cheng, Z., Song, T., Zhao, Y., Xing, X. and Jiang, G. (2026) ‘Amur tiger urine enhances the foraging behavior of three major small-bodied mesopredator species in northeastern China’, Ecological Processes, 15, 17. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-026-00678-5
