Impact of artificial waterholes on temporal partitioning in a carnivore guild: a comparison of activity patterns at artificial waterholes to roads and trails

PeerJ

article

Charlotte Krag¹  Linnea Worsøe Havmøller¹  Lourens Swanepoel²  Gigi Van Zyl⁴  Peter Rask Møller¹  Rasmus Worsøe Havmøller¹ 

[1] Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen;Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, School of Engineering and Agriculture, University of Venda for Science and Technology, Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province;DNRF-SARChI Chair in Biodiversity Value and Change, University of Venda for Science and Technology;Maremani Game Reserve, Musina, Limpopo Province;Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute for Animal Behaviour

关键词: Leopard;    Spotted hyena;    African wild dog;    Temporal overlap;    South Africa;    Anthropogenic influence;    Brown hyena;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.15253

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Temporal partitioning in large carnivores have previously been found to be one of the main factors enabling co-existence. While activity patterns have been investigated separately at artificial waterholes and e.g., game trails, simultaneous comparative analyses of activity patterns at artificial waterholes and game trails have not been attempted. In this study, camera trap data from Maremani Nature Reserve was used to investigate whether temporal partitioning existed in a carnivore guild of four species (spotted hyena, leopard, brown hyena and African wild dog). Specifically, we investigated temporal partitioning at artificial waterholes and on roads and trails an average of 1,412 m away from an artificial waterhole. Activity patterns for the same species at artificial waterholes and roads/game trails were also compared. We found no significant differences in temporal activity between species at artificial waterholes. Temporal partitioning on game trails and roads was only found between spotted hyena (nocturnal) and African wild dog (crepuscular). Between nocturnal species (spotted hyena and leopard) no temporal partitioning was exhibited. Only African wild dog exhibited significantly different activity patterns at waterholes and roads/game trails. This indicates artificial waterholes may be a location for conflict in a carnivore guild. Our study highlights the impact of anthropogenic landscape changes and management decisions on the temporal axis of carnivores. More data on activity patterns at natural water sources such as ephemeral pans are needed to properly assess the effect of artificial waterholes on temporal partitioning in a carnivore guild.

【 授权许可】

CC BY