Carnivore coexistence facilitated by spatial and dietary partitioning and fine‐scale behavioural avoidance in a semi‐arid ecosystem

Müller, Lana; Briers‐Louw, Willem D.; Amin, Rajan; Lochner, Christiaan Stefanus; Leslie, Alison J.

doi:10.1111/jzo.12964

Cited by 15 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…Thirdly, leopard spatial distribution may be influenced by interspecific competition with dominant carnivores [57]. However, as the only remaining large carnivore in the region, these leopards have no direct competitors and are thus not spatially restricted by heterospecifics [61].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population size, density, and ranging behaviour in a key leopard population in the Western Cape, South Africa

Müller¹,

Briers‐Louw

Seele³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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Globally, leopards are the most widespread large felid. However, mounting anthropogenic threats are rapidly reducing viable leopard populations and their range. Despite the clear pressures facing this species, there is a dearth of robust and reliable population and density estimates for leopards across their range, which is particularly important in landscapes that consist of protected and non-protected areas. We conducted a camera trapping survey between 2017 and 2018 in the Western Cape, South Africa to estimate the occupancy, density, and population size of a leopard population. Leopards were recorded at 95% of camera trapping sites, which resulted in a high occupancy that showed no significant variation between seasons, habitat types, or along an altitudinal gradient. Our results indicated a low leopard density in the study area, with an estimated 1.53 leopards/100 km2 in summer and 1.62 leopards/100 km2 in winter. Mean leopard population size was therefore estimated at 107 and 113 individuals in the winter and summer respectively. Leopard activity centres for female ranges were centred in the core study area and could be predicted with good certainty, while males appeared to move out of the study area during winter which resulted in a higher uncertainty in locations of activity centres. Interestingly, livestock depredation events in the surrounding farmlands were significantly higher in winter, which coincides with male leopards moving outside the core protected area into the surrounding farmlands. To reduce livestock losses and retaliatory leopard killings, we suggest that human-carnivore conflict mitigation measures be intensely monitored during the winter months in the study area. We also suggest that future leopard conservation efforts should focus on privately-owned land as these non-protected areas contain the majority of the remaining suitable leopard habitat and may provide important dispersal corridors and buffer zones on which the long-term sustainability of leopard populations depends.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population size, density, and ranging behaviour in a key leopard population in the Western Cape, South Africa

Müller¹,

Briers‐Louw

Seele³

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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“…The primary (main) prey base for leopards across the Western Cape include common duiker (duiker; Sylvicapra grimmia , Linnaeus, 1758), Cape grysbok (grysbok; Raphicerus melanotis , Thunberg, 1811), klipspringer ( Oreotragus oreotragus , Zimmermann, 1783), and grey rhebok (rhebok; Pelea capreolus , Forster, 1790), as well as rock hyrax (hyrax; Procavia capensis , Pallas, 1766), Cape porcupine (porcupine; Hystrix africaeaustralis , Peters, 1852), and chacma baboons (baboon; Papio ursinus , Kerr, 1792) ( Martins et al, 2010 ; Drouilly, Nattrass & O’Riain, 2018 ; Mann et al, 2019 ; Müller et al, 2022a ). In addition to suffering retaliatory killings, these species are also targeted for the illegal harvesting of bushmeat by means of snaring in the province ( Nieman et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facilitation of a free-roaming apex predator in working lands: evaluating factors that influence leopard spatial dynamics and prey availability in a South African biodiversity hotspot

Greyling

Comley

Cherry

et al. 2023

PeerJ

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Apex predators ideally require vast intact spaces that support sufficient prey abundances to sustain them. In a developing world, however, it is becoming extremely difficult to maintain large enough areas to facilitate apex predators outside of protected regions. Free-roaming leopards (Panthera pardus) are the last remaining apex predator in the Greater Cape Floristic Region, South Africa, and face a multitude of threats attributable to competition for space and resources with humans. Using camera-trap data, we investigated the influence of anthropogenic land modification on leopards and the availability of their natural prey species in two contrasting communities—primarily protected (Cederberg) and agriculturally transformed (Piketberg). Potential prey species composition and diversity were determined, to indicate prey availability in each region. Factors influencing spatial utilisation by leopards and their main prey species were also assessed. Estimated potential prey species richness (Cederberg = 27, Piketberg = 26) and diversity indices (Cederberg—H′ = 2.64, Ds = 0.90; Piketberg—H′ = 2.46, Ds = 0.89), supported by both the Jaccard’s Index (J = 0.73) and Sørensen’s Coefficient (CC = 0.85), suggested high levels of similarity across the two regions. Main leopard prey species were present in both regions, but their relative abundances differed. Grey rhebok, klipspringer, and rock hyrax were more abundant in the Cederberg, while Cape grysbok, Cape porcupine, chacma baboon, and common duiker were more abundant in Piketberg. Leopards persisted across the agriculturally transformed landscape despite these differences. Occupancy modelling revealed that the spatial dynamics of leopards differed between the two regions, except for both populations preferring areas further away from human habitation. Overall, anthropogenic factors played a greater role in affecting spatial utilisation by leopards and their main prey species in the transformed region, whereas environmental factors had a stronger influence in the protected region. We argue that greater utilisation of alternative main prey species to those preferred in the protected region, including livestock, likely facilitates the persistence of leopards in the transformed region, and believe that this has further implications for human-wildlife conflict. Our study provides a baseline understanding of the potential direct and indirect impacts of agricultural landscape transformation on the behaviour of leopards and shows that heavily modified lands have the potential to facilitate mammalian diversity, including apex predators. We iterate that conservation measures for apex predators should be prioritised where they are present on working lands, and encourage the collaborative development of customised, cost-effective, multi-species conflict management approaches that facilitate coexistence.

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“…Theory on top-down ecosystem regulation and suppressive effects of large carnivores indicates that body size has a strong influence on the intensity of competitive effects (Palomares and Caro 1999;Donadio and Buskirk 2006). As such, it would be expected that the presence of leopard has a greater effect on caracal site use, as the two species are closer in body size and share a higher degree of dietary overlap (Müller et al 2022). However, recent studies have indicated that the network of intraguild competition and top-down mediated effects are more extensive than previously thought (Prugh and Sivy 2020;Curveira-Santos et al 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lack of caracal spatiotemporal responses to leopard presence is surprising, as the two species can display high dietary overlap (Müller et al 2022) and leopard are known to kill caracal when encountered (Curveira-Santos et al 2022). Given the potential for dietary overlap (Caro and Stoner 2003;Müller et al 2022), caracal and leopard may be selecting similar habitat characteristics for preferred prey, and this could explain the positive relationship between caracal site use and leopard abundance. Previous studies have indicated that whilst caracal and leopard potentially compete for prey, they can exhibit a high level of spatial and temporal overlap and facilitate coexistence using fine-scale avoidance strategies (Müller et al 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the potential for dietary overlap (Caro and Stoner 2003;Müller et al 2022), caracal and leopard may be selecting similar habitat characteristics for preferred prey, and this could explain the positive relationship between caracal site use and leopard abundance. Previous studies have indicated that whilst caracal and leopard potentially compete for prey, they can exhibit a high level of spatial and temporal overlap and facilitate coexistence using fine-scale avoidance strategies (Müller et al 2022). Our dataset was insufficient for modelling finescale interactions between caracal and apex carnivores, so it is not known whether caracal use similar behavioural mechanisms to enable co-occurrence with leopard here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Habitat structure and the presence of large carnivores shape the site use of an understudied small carnivore: caracal ecology in a miombo woodland

Davis

Gentle

Mgoola³

et al. 2022

Mamm Res

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Basic ecological knowledge on African small carnivores and how they interact with the wider carnivore guild are lacking for many species. The caracal (Caracal caracal) has a widespread distribution across Africa, yet there is a paucity of information on this species outside of savannah and agricultural landscapes. Using camera trap data from Kasungu National Park, Malawi, we provide novel information on caracal habitat use in a miombo woodland and compare the spatiotemporal dynamics between caracal and members of the large carnivore guild (leopard, Panthera pardus and spotted hyaena, Crocuta crocuta). We found that caracal were more likely to use sites with higher grass cover and further away from permanent water sources. Caracal site use increased in areas with lower spotted hyaena abundance and caracal exhibited different temporal activity patterns to spotted hyaena. In contrast, caracal did not exhibit spatial or temporal avoidance of leopard at the scale investigated here. However, the probability of detecting caracal at sites of higher leopard abundance was significantly lower, suggesting possible behavioural mechanisms to avoid interaction. Our study provides an insight into caracal ecology in a miombo woodland and improves our understanding of community dynamics between a lesser-studied small carnivore and the large carnivore guild.

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Carnivore coexistence facilitated by spatial and dietary partitioning and fine‐scale behavioural avoidance in a semi‐arid ecosystem

Cited by 15 publications

References 93 publications

Population size, density, and ranging behaviour in a key leopard population in the Western Cape, South Africa

Population size, density, and ranging behaviour in a key leopard population in the Western Cape, South Africa

Facilitation of a free-roaming apex predator in working lands: evaluating factors that influence leopard spatial dynamics and prey availability in a South African biodiversity hotspot

Habitat structure and the presence of large carnivores shape the site use of an understudied small carnivore: caracal ecology in a miombo woodland

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