Mesocarnivores face interspecific competition and risk intraguild predation when sharing resources with apex carnivores. Within a landscape, carnivores across trophic levels may use the same communication hubs, which provide a mix of risks (injury/death) and rewards (gaining information) for subordinate species. We predicted that mesocarnivores would employ different strategies to avoid apex carnivores at shared communication hubs, depending on their trophic position. To test our prediction, we examined how different subordinate carnivore species in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, USA, manage spatial overlap with pumas (Puma concolor), both at communication hubs and across a landscape-level camera trap array. We estimated species-specific occurrence, visitation rates, temporal overlap, and Avoidance–Attraction Ratios from camera traps and tested for differences between the two types of sites. We found that mesocarnivores generally avoided pumas at communication hubs, and this became more pronounced when pumas scent-marked during their most recent visit. Coyotes (Canis latrans), the pumas’ closest subordinate competitor in our system, exhibited the strongest avoidance at communication hubs. Gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) avoided pumas the least, which may suggest possible benefits from pumas suppressing coyotes. Overall, mesocarnivores exhibited various spatiotemporal avoidance strategies at communication hubs rather than outright avoidance, likely because they benefit from information gained while ‘eavesdropping’ on puma activity. Variability in avoidance strategies may be due to differential predation risks, as apex carnivores often interact more aggressively with their closest competitors. Combined, our results show how apex carnivores trigger complex species interactions across the entire carnivore guild and how trophic position determines behavioral responses and subsequent space use of subordinate mesocarnivores across the landscape.

中型食肉动物在与顶级食肉动物共享资源时面临种间竞争和群体内捕食的风险。在同一景观中，不同营养级的食肉动物可能使用相同的通信中心，为从属物种提供风险（伤害/死亡）和奖励（获取信息）的组合。我们预测中型食肉动物会根据其营养位置采用不同的策略来避开共享通讯中心的顶级食肉动物。为了测试我们的预测，我们研究了美国加利福尼亚州圣克鲁斯山脉的不同下属食肉动物物种如何在通信中心和景观级相机陷阱阵列上管理与美洲狮（ Puma concolor ）的空间重叠。我们通过相机陷阱估计了特定物种的发生率、访问率、时间重叠和回避-吸引比率，并测试了两种类型地点之间的差异。我们发现，中型食肉动物通常会避开通讯中心的美洲狮，当美洲狮在最近一次访问期间留下气味标记时，这种情况变得更加明显。土狼 ( Canis latrans ) 是美洲狮在我们的系统中最接近的下属竞争对手，在通讯枢纽表现出最强的回避能力。灰狐（Urocyon cinereoargenteus）最不避开美洲狮，这可能表明美洲狮抑制郊狼可能有好处。总体而言，中型食肉动物在交流中心表现出各种时空回避策略，而不是彻底回避，这可能是因为它们从“窃听”美洲狮活动时获得的信息中受益。回避策略的变化可能是由于捕食风险的差异造成的，因为顶级食肉动物通常会与最接近的竞争对手进行更积极的互动。综合起来，我们的结果显示了顶级食肉动物如何触发整个食肉动物行会中复杂的物种相互作用，以及营养位置如何决定整个景观中的中型食肉动物的行为反应和随后的空间利用。