Population structure and spatial ecology of Kordofan giraffe in Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo

D'haen, Mathias; Fennessy, Julian; Stabach, Jared A.; Brandlová, Karolína

doi:10.1002/ece3.5640

Cited by 14 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The Kordofan giraffe of Garamba NP and adjacent hunting reserves is the last remaining population in the DRC. It has decreased from ~400 individuals in the early-1990s to a low of 22, before rebounding in the past decade to a current estimate of 65 individuals [ 50 , 51 ]. Although recent conservation and management actions by the APN and partners have improved the conservation status of the Garamba NP population, genetic monitoring and population augmentation should be considered to minimize the chances of future inbreeding depression.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation Genomics of Two Threatened Subspecies of Northern Giraffe: The West African and the Kordofan Giraffe

Coimbra

Winter

MITCHELL

et al. 2022

Genes

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Three of the four species of giraffe are threatened, particularly the northern giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), which collectively have the smallest known wild population estimates. Among the three subspecies of the northern giraffe, the West African giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis peralta) had declined to 49 individuals by 1996 and only recovered due to conservation efforts undertaken in the past 25 years, while the Kordofan giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum) remains at <2300 individuals distributed in small, isolated populations over a large geographical range in Central Africa. These combined factors could lead to genetically depauperated populations. We analyzed 119 mitochondrial sequences and 26 whole genomes of northern giraffe individuals to investigate their population structure and assess the recent demographic history and current genomic diversity of West African and Kordofan giraffe. Phylogenetic and population structure analyses separate the three subspecies of northern giraffe and suggest genetic differentiation between populations from eastern and western areas of the Kordofan giraffe’s range. Both West African and Kordofan giraffe show a gradual decline in effective population size over the last 10 ka and have moderate genome-wide heterozygosity compared to other giraffe species. Recent inbreeding levels are higher in the West African giraffe and in Kordofan giraffe from Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. Although numbers for both West African and some populations of Kordofan giraffe have increased in recent years, the threat of habitat loss, climate change impacts, and illegal hunting persists. Thus, future conservation actions should consider close genetic monitoring of populations to detect and, where practical, counteract negative trends that might develop.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation Genomics of Two Threatened Subspecies of Northern Giraffe: The West African and the Kordofan Giraffe

Coimbra

Winter

MITCHELL

et al. 2022

Genes

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“…However, kin selection may correspond with the social structure of the giraffe herd, which represents a fission–fusion social system. This system occurs within a large community where the individuals create subgroups, changing in size and composition every day 46 – 49 . The social ties in the fission–fusion society may be influenced by kinship 48 and thus it is necessary to continue to test kinship as a possible explanation of allonursing in giraffe.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Further behavioural parameters support reciprocity and milk theft as explanations for giraffe allonursing

Gloneková

Brandlová

Pluháček

2021

Sci Rep

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Suckling of a non-filial calf, or allosuckling, is an extreme case of allomaternal care in mammals. There have been many hypotheses postulated in an attempt to explain this behaviour; however, the supporting evidence differs, together with the conclusions drawn from the investigated variables. Previously, suckling bout rejection was analysed, and the milk theft and reciprocity hypotheses were both determined as the most appropriate explanation of allosuckling in giraffe. In this study, seven hypotheses were tested using different behavioural parameters, namely suckling bout frequency, suckling bout duration, and time spent suckling. It is well-documented that these parameters are associated with various aspects in ungulate biology; for example, suckling rejection typically reflects milk intake and parent–offspring conflict, whereas the suckling bout duration and frequency is associated with social behaviours (affiliation, bonding, social stress). In total, 22 nursing females and 47 suckling calves were observed, in four Czech zoos during a five-year period. The correlation of the observed parameters between the reciprocal female-calf dyads was found to be in line with the reciprocity hypothesis. In addition, non-filial calves tried to steal the milk from non-maternal females, supporting the milk theft hypothesis. Thus, the results support both the reciprocity and milk-theft hypotheses as the most plausible explanation of allosuckling in giraffe, and illustrates the importance of using suckling bout duration and frequency, and the time spent suckling, as behavioural parameters that may aid in explaining the extremity of maternal investment, such as allosuckling.

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“…At the individual level, space‐use requirements are typically described by an animal’s home range (Burt, 1943), which is formalized by the probability distribution of the animal’s locations (Worton, 1995). Population‐level inference on space‐use parameters is also important—both for quantifying the area requirements of a typical organism and for quantifying the effect of covariates, such as species or taxa (Habel et al, 2019; Matley et al, 2019; Poessel et al, 2020; Rehm et al, 2018), sex (D’haen et al, 2019; Desbiez et al, 2019; Morato et al, 2016; Naveda‐Rodríguez et al, 2018), body size (Bašić et al, 2019; Desbiez et al, 2019; Naveda‐Rodríguez et al, 2018), age (Averill‐Murray et al, 2020; Goldenberg et al, 2018; Kays et al, 2020; Mirski et al, 2020), movement characteristics (Bowman et al, 2002; Desbiez et al, 2019; Swihart et al, 1988), conspecific density (Erlinge et al, 1990; Massei et al, 1997; Trewhella et al, 1988), resource density (Herfindal et al, 2005; Loveridge et al, 2009; Massei et al, 1997), habitat or biome (McBride Jr & Thompson, 2019; Morato et al, 2016; Paolini et al, 2019; Tonra et al, 2019), human influences (Hansen et al, 2020; McBride Jr & Thompson, 2019; Rutt et al, 2020; Ullmann et al, 2020), weather (Kay et al, 2017; Matley et al, 2019; Mirski et al, 2020) and season or time (Bašić et al, 2019; Goldenberg et al, 2018; Matley et al, 2019; Roffler & Gregovich, 2018). Both the mean response and population variation have been studied as important regressors for biological inference (Seigle‐Ferrand et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population‐level inference for home‐range areas

et al. 2022

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Home‐range estimates are a common product of animal tracking data, as each range represents the area needed by a given individual. Population‐level inference of home‐range areas—where multiple individual home ranges are considered to be sampled from a population—is also important to evaluate changes over time, space or covariates such as habitat quality or fragmentation, and for comparative analyses of species averages. Population‐level home‐range parameters have traditionally been estimated by first assuming that the input tracking data were sampled independently when calculating home ranges via conventional kernel density estimation (KDE) or minimal convex polygon (MCP) methods, and then assuming that those individual home ranges were measured exactly when calculating the population‐level estimates. This conventional approach does not account for the temporal autocorrelation that is inherent in modern tracking data, nor for the uncertainties of each individual home‐range estimate, which are often large and heterogeneous. Here, we introduce a statistically and computationally efficient framework for the population‐level analysis of home‐range areas, based on autocorrelated kernel density estimation (AKDE), that can account for variable temporal autocorrelation and estimation uncertainty. We apply our method to empirical examples on lowland tapir Tapirus terrestris, kinkajou Potos flavus, white‐nosed coati Nasua narica, white‐faced capuchin monkey Cebus capucinus and spider monkey Ateles geoffroyi, and quantify differences between species, environments and sexes. Our approach allows researchers to more accurately compare different populations with different movement behaviours or sampling schedules while retaining statistical precision and power when individual home‐range uncertainties vary. Finally, we emphasize the estimation of effect sizes when comparing populations, rather than mere significance tests.

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Population structure and spatial ecology of Kordofan giraffe in Garamba National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo

Cited by 14 publications

References 34 publications

Conservation Genomics of Two Threatened Subspecies of Northern Giraffe: The West African and the Kordofan Giraffe

Conservation Genomics of Two Threatened Subspecies of Northern Giraffe: The West African and the Kordofan Giraffe

Further behavioural parameters support reciprocity and milk theft as explanations for giraffe allonursing

Population‐level inference for home‐range areas

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