An African urban mesocarnivore: Navigating the urban matrix of Durban, South Africa

Streicher, Jarryd P.; Ramesh, Tharmalingam; Downs, Colleen T.

doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01482

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…However, they often have positive ecological influences through top-down regulation of trophic systems, and their absence can negatively influence functional diversity in cities (Faeth et al 2005;Sol et al 2020). There is a growing understanding of urban-adapting native mammalian carnivores and avian raptors, which are typically small to medium size, r-selected, solitary foragers, diet generalists with a discreet lifestyle that can scavenge and are tolerant to human proximity (Abay et al 2011;Gehrt et al 2010;Iossa et al 2010;Downs 2015, 2018;Streicher et al 2021). Beside anthropogenic food and nest resources (Chace and Walsh 2006), they can profit from lower persecution levels (Rutz et al 2008;Dandy et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

South African raptors in urban landscapes: a review

McPherson

Sumasgutner

Downs

2021

Ostrich

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Globally, but especially in Africa, increasing human populations and anthropogenic land-use change are generally affecting diversity negatively. Urban environments in southern Africa typically comprise a mosaic landscape of anthropogenic infrastructure with some green spaces. These urban cities have a range of fauna that have persisted or increased in population density compared with areas that are more natural. We analysed the occurrence of diurnal and nocturnal raptors using South African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2) data and reviewed literature. We found 66 raptor species occurred in South African cities. Thirty species had reporting frequencies greater than 10% in at least one of the 11 cities assessed, revealing impressive diversity of the raptor clade in South African cities. Five species were both abundant and widespread, occurring >10% in five or more cities each, of which three belong to the scavenger guild: Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus, African Fish Eagle Haliaeetus vocifer, Common Buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus, Yellow-billed Kite Milvus aegyptius and Black Sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus. However, only a few of these 66 raptors had been extensively studied in urban areas: the Black Sparrowhawk, African Crowned Eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus, Lanner Falcon Falco biarmicus and Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus. This lack of research is specifically severe, given that Africa is hosting a unique and diverse range of raptor species and that numbers and diversity of raptors have declined dramatically over the past decades across the continent. In fact, these four extensively studied species occurred in higher densities in urban areas than rural areas, which indicates that urban areas might create valuable opportunities for urban conservation, not least through public engagement. Rapaces sud-africains dans les paysages urbains: un bilanÀ l›échelle mondiale, mais surtout en Afrique, l›augmentation des populations humaines et les changements anthropiques d›utilisation des terres ont généralement un impact négatif sur la diversité. Les environnements urbains en Afrique australe comprennent généralement un paysage en mosaïque d›infrastructures anthropiques avec quelques espaces verts. Ces villes urbaines ont une diversité de faune qui a persisté ou a augmenté en densité de population par rapport aux zones plus naturelles. Nous avons analysé l›occurrence des rapaces diurnes et nocturnes à l›aide des données du South African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2) et examiné la littérature. Nous avons trouvé 66 espèces de rapaces présentes dans les villes sud-africaines. Trente espèces avaient des fréquences de déclaration supérieures à 10% dans au moins l'une des 11 villes évaluées, révélant une diversité impressionnante du clade des rapaces dans les villes sud-africaines. Cinq espèces étaient à la fois abondantes et répandues, présentes> 10% dans cinq villes ou plus chacune, dont trois appartiennent à la guilde des charognards: l'Elanion blanc Elanus caeruleus, le Pygargue vocifer Haliaeetus vocifer, la Buse commune Bu...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

South African raptors in urban landscapes: a review

McPherson

Sumasgutner

Downs

2021

Ostrich

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“…Although anthropogenic pressure causes habitat fragmentation, urban and transformed environments can provide important habitat for small carnivores (e.g. African golden cats Profelis aurata , Bahaa‐el‐din et al 2016; jungle cats, Katna et al 2022; water mongooses Atilax paludinosus , Streicher et al 2021), and may facilitate dispersal (e.g. banded mongooses Mungos mungo ; Verble et al 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Middle‐out ecology: small carnivores as sentinels of global change

et al. 2022

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Species that respond to ecosystem change in a timely, measurable, and interpretable way can be used as sentinels of global change. Contrary to a pervasive view, we suggest that, among Carnivora, small carnivores are more appropriate sentinels than large carnivores. This reasoning is built around six key points: that, compared to large carnivores, small carnivores 1) are more species-rich and diverse, providing more potential sentinels in many systems; 2) occupy a wider range of ecological niches, exhibiting a greater variety of sensitivities to change; 3) hold an intermediate trophic position that is more directly affected by changes at the producer, primary consumer, and tertiary consumer levels; 4) have shorter life spans and higher reproductive rates, exhibiting more rapid responses to change; 5) have smaller home ranges and are more abundant, making it easier to investigate fine-scale management interventions; 6) are easier to monitor, manage, and manipulate. Therefore, we advocate for incorporating

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“…We first simulated a scenario in which bias could arise when certain habitat covariates of interest cause disproportionate amounts of triangulation failure in GPS devices. This is known to happen, for example, in rugged terrain, thick vegetation, and underwater (e.g., Breed et al ., 2011, O’Neill et al ., 2020, Streicher et al ., 2021). For this scenario, we simulated no habitat selection occurring (i.e., the animal movement path was simulated independently of the habitat raster), but we censored every other location in Habitat 2, which would be consistent with a habitat-specific triangulation success rate of 50% (which simulates an extreme case of habitat-specific triangulation failure).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…S3). All animals were tracked using GPS telemetry; further details on the specifics of animal capture and tracking can be found in Streicher et al . (2021), Ramesh et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mitigating pseudoreplication and bias in resource selection functions with autocorrelation-informed weighting

Alston

Fleming

Kays

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Resource selection functions are among the most commonly used statistical tools in both basic and applied animal ecology. They are typically parameterized using animal tracking data, and advances in animal tracking technology have led to increasing levels of autocorrelation between locations in such data sets. Because resource selection functions assume that data are independent and identically distributed, such autocorrelation can cause misleadingly narrow confidence intervals and biased parameter estimates. Data thinning, generalized estimating equations, and step selection functions have been suggested as techniques for mitigating the statistical problems posed by autocorrelation, but these approaches have notable limitations that include statistical inefficiency, unclear or arbitrary targets for adequate levels of statistical independence, constraints in input data, and (in the case of step selection functions) scale-dependent inference. To remedy these problems, we introduce a method for likelihood weighting of animal locations to mitigate the negative consequences of autocorrelation on resource selection functions. This method weights each observed location in an animal’s movement track according to its level of autocorrelation, expanding confidence intervals to match an objective target (i.e., the effective sample size for Autocorrelated Gaussian Density Estimation) and accounting for bias that can arise when there are gaps in the movement track. In this study, we describe the mathematical principles underlying our method, demonstrate its practical advantages versus conventional approaches using simulations and empirical data on a water mongoose (Atilax paludinosus), a caracal (Caracal caracal), and a serval (Leptailurus serval), and discuss pathways for further development of our method. We also provide a complete, annotated analytical workflow to help new users apply our method to their own animal tracking data using the ctmm R package.

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An African urban mesocarnivore: Navigating the urban matrix of Durban, South Africa

Cited by 12 publications

References 61 publications

South African raptors in urban landscapes: a review

South African raptors in urban landscapes: a review

Middle‐out ecology: small carnivores as sentinels of global change

Mitigating pseudoreplication and bias in resource selection functions with autocorrelation-informed weighting

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