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

Abstract

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.

Rewilding landscapes with apex predators: cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) movements reveal the importance of environmental and individual contexts

“…Although waterholes are key resources for many large carnivores (Jhala et al, 2021) for hydration and hunting opportunities, they may especially be sought after by ambush predators (Crosmary et al, 2012). The cheetahs in this category were solitary and familiar to the area, thereby presumably aware that waterholes increase the likelihood of encountering leopards (Krag et al, 2023). Leopards are the dominant predator and are highly abundant in this system (Cheetah Conservation Fund, unpublished data).…”

Impacts of Wildlife Artificial Water Provisioning in an African Savannah Ecosystem: A Spatiotemporal Analysis

“…Land 2024, 13 This saw the government of Botswana installing AWPs mainly in protected areas such as the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) [6]. In contrast, tourist enterprises have since adopted water supplementation methods to boost wildlife numbers around their premises and increase tourist visitation and satisfaction through enhanced wildlife viewing [8][9][10]. This has been noted to cause high-density aggregation of wildlife species around AWPs [8].…”

“…The population of some of the species, for example, buffalos, zebras, impalas, wildebeests, and lechwe has been increasing over the years [14]. Some of these, for example, wildebeests, have residential inclinations around water sources and the creation of artificial water points affects the dynamics of their space use while also increasing their negative impacts on the surrounding vegetation [10]. The artificial points also tend to be dominated by water-dependent species such as impalas, zebras, and elephants to the detriment of some drought-tolerant species as they suffer from competition for forage [15].…”

Exploring temporal activity of dholes, their prey, and competitors in East Java, Indonesia

“…According to foraging theory apex predators should favour prey with sufficient mass for optimal energy efficiency while at the same time minimise risk of injury (Stephens & Krebs, 1986). However, competition between sympatric carnivores may influence prey preference due to risk of kleptoparasitism (Balme et al, 2017;Karanth & Sunquist, 2000) and niche differentiation through spatial or temporal avoidance (Dröge et al, 2017;Hayward & Slotow, 2009;Krag et al, 2023). The presence of humans may further alter these interspecific interactions between predator and prey e.g., through the human shield hypothesis (Berger, 2007;Shannon et al, 2014) and between competing carnivores in the carnivore guild if one better tolerates humans (Parsons et al, 2022;Seveque et al, 2020).…”

“…For example, knowledge gained from camera trap studies have improved our ability to study secretive species under conditions where direct observations are difficult or impossible (Linkie & Ridout, 2011;van Schaik & Griffiths, 1996). Also, activity studies documented temporal overlap between predators and their putative prey (Havmøller et al, 2020;Linkie & Ridout, 2011;Widodo et al, 2022) and temporal partitioning between sympatric carnivores (Hayward & Slotow, 2009;Krag et al, 2023;Sunarto et al, 2015).…”