Herd‐switching and long‐distance dispersal in female African buffalo <i>Syncerus caffer</i>

Halley, Duncan J.; Vandewalle, Mark; Mari, M.; Taolo, Cyril

doi:10.1046/j.0141-6707.2001.00336.x

Cited by 33 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…We did indeed note the size of the herd associated with captured animals, and in some instances we did collar multiple animals from the same aggregation, raising questions on whether home range sizes from these herd members should be treated independently. However, our unpublished data and other published studies have demonstrated that buffalo herds are dynamic; individuals may change herd membership, and herds themselves may fuse and split over time (Halley et al 2002;Cross et al 2005). Therefore herd identity in a static sense is difficult to identify and indeed may not exist.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Factors affecting intraspecific variation in home range size of a large African herbivore

et al. 2012

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Factors affecting intraspecific variation in home range size have rarely been examined using modern statistical and remote sensing methods. This is especially true for animals in seasonal savanna environments in Africa, despite this biome's importance for both conservation and development goals. We studied the impacts of spatial and temporal variability in environmental conditions, along with individual and social factors, on home range sizes in African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in northeastern Namibia. Our data set spans 4 years, is derived from 32 satellite tracking collars, and contains over 35,000 GPS locations. We used the local convex hull method to estimate home range size from 31 buffalo captured at 6 sites. We used a variety of remotely sensed data to characterize potential anthropogenic and natural boundaries, as well as seasonal and temporal heterogeneity in environmental conditions. Using an information-theoretic, mixed effects approach, our analyses showed that home ranges varied over two orders of magnitude and are among the largest recorded for this species. Variables relating to vegetation and habitat boundaries were more important than abiotic environmental conditions and individual or social factors in explaining variation in home range size. The relative contributions of environmental, individual, social, and linear boundary variables to intraspecific home range size have rarely been examined and prior to this had not been assessed for any species in seasonal savannas of Africa. Understanding the factors that condition spaceuse patterns of wildlife in this area will lead to betterinformed conservation and sustainable development decisions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Factors affecting intraspecific variation in home range size of a large African herbivore

et al. 2012

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“…There are no distinct physical barriers between MGR and SNP, except for a small seasonal river in the southern part of the borderline. This, together with the high ability of African buffalo to migrate or switch between herds and populations (Estes 1991;Prins 1996;Halley et al 2002;Cross et al 2005;Korte 2009) may explain why MGR and SNP appear as one large population in which genetic effects of hunting are of minor importance. The present study points therefore towards the importance of maintaining buffaloes in large populations or in populations with extensive gene flow to maintain historical levels of genetic diversity, a conservation effort which may become important also in other African savannah ungulates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Influence of habitat fragmentation on the genetic structure of large mammals: evidence for increased structuring of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) within the Serengeti ecosystem

et al. 2011

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Wildlife species exposed to habitat fragmentation are often in need of a conservation effort. The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is one of the key species in the Serengeti ecosystem as they form a large part of the herbivore biomass, providing ecotourism and valuable trophies. The ecosystem is a part of Tanzanias protected areas and is administrated under different management practices. Among these, we have analysed the genetic structure of buffalo (n = 68) from the Serengeti National Park (SNP), the Ngorongoro conservation area (NCA) and the Maswa game reserve (MGR). Both the sequence variation in a 493 base pair fragment of the mitochondrial D-loop and the allele frequency-distribution in 15 microsatellites suggest genetic structuring of the buffalo populations within the ecosystem. Both the allele frequency-distribution and the amount of genetic variation were high and similar in SNP and MGR, suggesting a high degree of gene flow between these locations. By comparison, the NCA buffaloes had significantly lower genetic variation and were genetically differentiated from SNP and MGR. Approximate Bayesian computation estimates suggest that the observed genetic structure is of a recent origin, indicating that the recent increases in developmental activity in the region may have influenced the genetic structure of the buffalo within the Serengeti ecosystem.

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“…Movement of buffalo herds or individuals would explain localized distributions. However, the potential lifelong carrier state of Theileria in buffalo (the longest documented T. parva carrier period in a vector-free area being 20 years -F. T. Potgieter, personal communication, 2013), the infection cycle of ticks that is dispersed over an annual period (which enhance contact with new hosts) and the fact that buffalo herds and individuals can migrate over large distances within short periods of time in response to environmental cues (Halley et al 2002;Cross et al 2005), would negate any host vicariance effects. As such, other Theileria species such as T. parva, T. mutans and T. velifera show no geographic localization as observed for T. Theileria species have two genomic copies of the 18S rRNA gene (Hayashida et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic distribution of Theileria sp. (buffalo) and Theileria sp. (bougasvlei) in Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in southern Africa: implications for speciation

et al. 2013

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Strict control measures apply to movement of buffalo in South Africa including testing for Theileria parva, the causative agent of Corridor disease in cattle. The official test is a real-time hybridization PCR assay that amplifies the 18S rRNA V4 hyper-variable region of T. parva, T. sp. (buffalo) and T. sp. (bougasvlei). Mixed infections with the latter organisms affect diagnostic sensitivity due to PCR suppression. While the incidence of mixed infections in the Corridor disease endemic region of South Africa is significant, little information is available on the specific distribution and prevalence of T. sp. (buffalo) and T. sp. (bougasvlei). Specific real-time PCR assays were developed and a total of 1211 samples known to harbour these parasites were screened. Both parasites are widely distributed in southern Africa and the incidence of mixed infections with T. parva within the endemic region is similar (* 25-50%). However, a significant discrepancy exists in regard to mixed infections of T. sp. (buffalo) and T. sp. (bougasvlei) (* 10%). Evidence for speciation between T. sp. (buffalo) and T. sp. (bougasvlei) is supported by phylogenetic analysis of the COI gene, and their designation as different species. This suggests mutual exclusion of parasites and the possibility of hybrid sterility in cases of mixed infections.

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Herd‐switching and long‐distance dispersal in female African buffalo Syncerus caffer

Cited by 33 publications

References 3 publications

Factors affecting intraspecific variation in home range size of a large African herbivore

Factors affecting intraspecific variation in home range size of a large African herbivore

Influence of habitat fragmentation on the genetic structure of large mammals: evidence for increased structuring of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) within the Serengeti ecosystem

Geographic distribution of Theileria sp. (buffalo) and Theileria sp. (bougasvlei) in Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in southern Africa: implications for speciation

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