Abstract
Small carnivores – here defined as members of the mammalian order Carnivora with a body mass < 21.5 kg – occur worldwide, including in Oceania, following introductions. They are represented by 211 to 277 species, which correspond to about 90% of terrestrial carnivores globally. Some species are endemic to 1 or 2 countries (sometimes only islands), while others, like the red fox,
Vulpes vulpes
, are present in nearly 90 countries over 5 continents. Small carnivores inhabit virtually all of the Earth's ecosystems, adopting terrestrial, semi‐fossorial, (semi‐)arboreal or (semi‐)aquatic lifestyles. They occupy multiple trophic levels, being primary consumers when feeding on fruits, seeds, and other plant matter, secondary consumers when preying on frugivorous, granivorous, and herbivorous animals, or tertiary consumers when killing and devouring meat‐eating animals. Therefore, they play important roles in the regulation of ecosystems, e.g. natural pest control, seed dispersal and nutrient cycling. In areas where humans have extirpated large carnivores, small carnivores may become the dominant predators, which may increase their abundance (‘mesopredator release’) to the point that they can sometimes destabilize communities, drive local extirpations, and reduce overall biodiversity. On the other hand, one‐third of the world's small carnivores are Threatened or Near Threatened with extinction (
sensu
IUCN). This results from regionally burgeoning human populations' industrial and agricultural activities, causing habitat reduction, destruction, fragmentation, and pollution. Overexploitation, persecution, and the impacts of introduced predators, competitors, and pathogens have also negatively affected many small carnivore species. Although small carnivores have been intensively studied over the past decades, bibliometric studies showed that they have not received the same attention given to large carnivores. Furthermore, there is a huge disparity in how research efforts on small carnivores have been distributed, with some species intensively studied, and others superficially or not at all. Regionally, North American and European small carnivores have been the focus of numerous studies, and more research is being progressively conducted in Asia. However, there is a need to increase the research effort in Africa and Central and South America. Encouragingly, the recognition of the importance of the mesopredator release effect and the exponential deployment of camera‐traps have started to boost the research effort and scientific knowledge on small carnivores around the world. This book aims at filling a gap in the scientific literature by elucidating the important roles of, and documenting the latest knowledge on, the world's small carnivores. It is divided into four main sections: (i) Evolution, Systematics, and Distribution; (ii) Ecology, Behaviour, and Diseases; (iii) Interspecific Interactions and Community Ecology; and (iv) Interactions with People and Conservation. We hope that the book will appeal to a wide audience and, considering that the field of small carnivore science remains wide open, stimulate much‐needed research globally.