European Journal of Scientific Research ISSN 1450-216X Vol.45 No.1 (2010), pp.122-127 © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2010 http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr.htm Dietary Overlap among Seasons and Habitats of Red fox and Stone Marten in Central Greece Malamati Papakosta Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Dimitrios Bakaloudis Technological Educational Institute of Kavala, Greece Kyriaki Kitikidou Corresponding Author, Dimokritos University of Thrace, Greece, Dimokritos University of Thrace Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources Pandazidou 193, 68200, Orestiada, Greece RH: Papakosta et al. al.• Red fox and Stone marten Overlap E-mail: kkitikid@fmenr.duth.gr Christos Vlachos Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Evangelos Chatzinikos Hunting federation of central Greece Abstract The dietary overlap of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and stone marten (Martes foina) were studied in Central Greece in period 2003 - 2005. 219 red fox stomachs and 106 stone marten stomachs were laboratorially analyzed and the various prey items that participated in the diet of the two animals were determined. The prey species were classified depending on their origin in six diet groups (mammals, birds, plants, arthropods, reptiles – amphibians and others). The samples were collected from regions where hunting is practised and in regions where hunting is not practised and they were classified per season and habitat (shrubs, agriculture, oaks). Each carnivore had significant seasonal differences in its consumption of the six food categories (chi-square test, p-value=0,000). Niche overlap of red fox and marten was high for all seasons (>49,5%) and for all 3 habitats (>68,7%). Keywords: Diet, overlap, red fox, stone marten. Introduction Dietary analysis is a frequent first step in studying an animal’s ecology because diet directly reflects resource use and can provide insight into habitat utilization and competitive interactions (Litvaitis 2000). For carnivores, the availability and utilization of various food resources are important factors affecting population viability (Fuller and Sievert 2001). Additionally, competitive interactions among carnivore species are common and can have major impacts upon their ecology and management