State-shifts of lion prey selection in the Kruger National Park

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. T. Maruping-Mzileni ◽  
P. J. Funston ◽  
S. M. Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Prey Selection ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Stable State ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Key Indicator ◽  
Management Interventions

Aims Indicators of pending state-shifts carry value for policy makers. Predator–prey relations reflect key ecological processes that shape ecosystems. Variance in predator–prey relations may serve as a key indicator of future state-shifts. Methods Lion (Panthera leo) diet in the Kruger National Park was evaluated as such an indicator. Over the three-decade time span reviewed, variance in diet in relation to rainfall, prey abundance, management strategies and disease emergence were reviewed. Key results Rainfall patterns, both seasonal and cyclical, were identified as key drivers of predator–prey selection. However, the intensity of management in the form of artificial waterpoints overrode and confounded natural process. The results suggest that savanna systems are stable and punctuated by climatic events in the form of extreme above-average rainfall that temporarily destabilises the system. However, droughts are a cyclical part of the savanna system. Conclusion Lion prey selection did fluctuate with changing environmental conditions. Abrupt state shifts did occur; however, the ecosystem returned to a stable state. Implications State shifts in ecosystems pose key challenges to conservation managers. State shifts appear to be primarily associated with management interventions and environmental factors.

scholarly journals Elephant population growth in Kruger National Park, South Africa, under a landscape management approach

Koedoe ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam M. Ferreira ◽  
Cathy Greaver ◽  
Chenay Simms
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Landscape Management ◽  
Aerial Survey ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Intensive Management ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Management Interventions

South African National Parks (SANParks) manage landscapes rather than numbers of elephants (Loxodonta africana) to mitigate the effects that elephants may have on biodiversity, tourism and stakeholder conservation values associated with protected areas. This management philosophy imposes spatial variability of critical resources on elephants. Restoration of such ecological processes through less intensive management predicts a reduction in population growth rates from the eras of intensive management. We collated aerial survey data since 1995 and conducted an aerial total count using a helicopter observation platform during 2015. A minimum of 17 086 elephants were resident in the Kruger National Park (KNP) in 2015, growing at 4.2% per annum over the last generation of elephants (i.e. 12 years), compared to 6.5% annual population growth noted during the intensive management era ending in 1994. This may come from responses of elephants to density and environmental factors manifested through reduced birth rates and increased mortality rates. Authorities should continue to evaluate the demographic responses of elephants to landscape scale interventions directed at restoring the limitation of spatial variance in resource distribution on elephant spatiotemporal dynamics and the consequences that may have for other conservation values.Conservation implications: Conservation managers should continue with surveying elephants in a way that allows the extraction of key variables. Such variables should focus on measures that reflect on how theory predicts elephants should respond to management interventions.

scholarly journals Climate induced wolf prey selection in Yellowstone National Park, 1995-2015

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas W Smith ◽  
Matthew Metz ◽  
Chris Wilmers ◽  
Daniel Stahler ◽  
Chris Geremia
Keyword(s):  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Prey Selection ◽  
Selective Advantage ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Age Classes ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Wolf Predation ◽  
Management Objectives

Prey selection by wolves has been a fundamental and long-term topic of interest for wolf-prey studies. Virtually all studies conclude the selectivity of wolf predation and typically identify what made an individual vulnerable. Vulnerability, however, varies for multiple reasons and emerging research is discovering climate induced effects on prey forage altering condition and selective advantage of migration. We present data from a twenty year study of wolf-elk predation in Yellowstone National Park (YNP) which found bull elk killed more frequently in early winter after years with less snowfall compared to years with normal snowfall. Snowfall impacted summer forage, which impacted bull elk condition going into the autumn rut, which weakened elk prematurely post-rut causing them to be selected by wolves in early rather than late winter, and possibly caused more bulls to be killed overall. Bull elk ratios have declined over the last 20 years (from 40-60 to 10-15 bulls/100 cows; lower outside YNP), which has led to calls for a reduced human harvest on bulls which has been met with significant resistance. Understanding the interaction between climate, forage and wolf predation on bull elk (and other sex/age classes) will help guide management decisions and potentially sustain hunting of bulls in the long term as well as protect natural management objectives within YNP. Results will be of widespread value as they may suggest changing predator-prey dynamics across North America by making some otherwise healthy prey vulnerable to predation.

scholarly journals Humans disrupt access to prey for large African carnivores

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirby L Mills ◽  
Nyeema C Harris
Keyword(s):  
Prey Species ◽  
Prey Selection ◽  
Diel Activity ◽  
Spotted Hyena ◽  
Nocturnal Activity ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Human Presence ◽  
Prey Resources ◽  
Trophic Responses

Wildlife respond to human presence by adjusting their temporal niche, possibly modifying encounter rates among species and trophic dynamics that structure communities. We assessed wildlife diel activity responses to human presence and consequential changes in predator-prey overlap using 11,111 detections of 3 large carnivores and 11 ungulates across 21,430 camera trap-nights in West Africa. Over two-thirds of species exhibited diel responses to mainly diurnal human presence, with ungulate nocturnal activity increasing by 7.1%. Rather than traditional pairwise predator-prey diel comparisons, we considered spatiotemporally explicit predator access to several prey resources to evaluate community-level trophic responses to human presence. Although leopard prey access was not affected by humans, lion and spotted hyena access to three prey species significantly increased when prey increased their nocturnal activity to avoid humans. Human presence considerably influenced the composition of available prey, with implications for prey selection, demonstrating how humans perturb ecological processes via behavioral modifications.

Exploring Creative Tourism Potential in Protected Areas: The Kruger National Park Case

2020 ◽  
pp. 109634802098353
Author(s):  
Jan-Albert Wessels ◽  
Anneli Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
National Park ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Cultural Tourism ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Convenience Sampling ◽  
Tourism Potential

Creative tourism strategies are often adopted by destinations as a result of its appeal to policy makers, without a serious assessment of tourists’ needs. Although there are significant cultural and heritage resources in and on the periphery of the Kruger National Park (KNP), these resources seem to be inadequately harnessed. The aim of the article is thus to explore the potential of creative tourism as a medium to harness cultural and heritage resources in the KNP by measuring the importance of local community (cultural tourism) elements to tourists when visiting the KNP. Convenience sampling is used to distribute questionnaires to tourists, and 201 responses are used in the data analysis. The results indicate that respondents have a neutral opinion regarding the importance of local community aspects, and recommendations are made to exploit the untapped potential for creative tourism. This study adds to the current debate on creative tourism by assessing its role in protected areas.

scholarly journals Wastewater infrastructure and the ecology and management of freshwater systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Arminty Capps
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategies ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Local Resource ◽  
Resource Managers ◽  
And Function ◽  
Ecosystem Structure And Function

Abstract Globally, freshwater resources are influenced by inputs of energy, nutrients, and pollutants from human wastewater. Local resource managers and policy-makers are tasked to address ecological and human-health concerns associated with aging and obsolete water infrastructure using limited financial resources. Nevertheless, there is limited information available describing how waste streams vary in their pollutant load or their subsequent effects on ecosystem structure and function in streams and rivers. Consequently, as wastewater systems degrade, local resource managers and policy makers are forced to develop watershed management strategies to deal with increasing effluent discharge without an understanding of how their decisions will influence local ecological processes or the structural and functional integrity of downstream habitats. Here, I discuss some of the ecological implications of obsolete or absent wastewater treatment, and describe how mismatches between the governance of wastewater management and watershed ecology may exacerbate environmental problems.

scholarly journals Predator-prey relationships amongst the larger mammals of the Kruger National Park

Koedoe ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
U. De V. Pienaar
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Predator Prey

Predator-prey relationships amongst the larger mammals of the Kruger National Park

scholarly journals Humans induce differential access to prey for large African carnivores

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirby L. Mills ◽  
Nyeema C. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Prey Selection ◽  
Diel Activity ◽  
Apex Predators ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Human Presence ◽  
Temporal Niche ◽  
Prey Resources ◽  
Trophic Responses ◽  
Induced Changes

AbstractWildlife adaptively respond to human presence by adjusting their temporal niche, possibly modifying encounter rates among species and trophic dynamics that structure communities. Here we show that these human-induced modifications to behaviours are prolific among species and alter apex predators’ access to prey resources. We assessed human-induced changes to wildlife diel activity and consequential changes in predator-prey overlap using 11,954 detections of three apex predators and 13 ungulates across 21,430 trap-nights in West Africa. Over two-thirds of species altered their diel use in response to human presence, and ungulate nocturnal activity increased by 6.8%. Rather than traditional pairwise predator-prey comparisons, we considered spatiotemporally explicit predator access to a suite of prey resources to evaluate community-level trophic responses to human presence. Although leopard prey access was not affected, lion and hyena access to 3 prey species significantly increased when prey increased their nocturnal temporal niche to avoid humans. Ultimately, humans considerably altered the composition of available prey, with implications for prey selection, demonstrating how humans perturb ecological processes via behavioural modifications.

The landscape-scale drivers of herbivore assemblage distribution on the central basalt plains of Kruger National Park

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyanne Young ◽  
Hervé Fritz ◽  
Erica A.H. Smithwick ◽  
Jan A. Venter
Keyword(s):  
Water Availability ◽  
National Park ◽  
Feeding Preference ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Relative Distribution ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Availability Constraints ◽  
Water Provision

AbstractThe distribution and abundance of herbivores in African savannas are constrained by interactions between abiotic and biotic factors. At the species-level, herbivores face trade-offs among foraging requirements, vegetation structure and the availability of surface water that change over spatial and temporal scales. Characterizing herbivore requirements is necessary for the management of the environment in which they occur, as conservation management interventions such as fencing and artificial water provision consequently have effects on how herbivores address these trade-offs. We tested the effects of environmental attributes on the probability of presence of herbivore functional types at different distances to water in the Satara section of Kruger National Park over the period of a year. Hypotheses about species’ relative distribution and abundance were developed through a literature review of forage and water availability constraints on feeding preference and body size of herbivore. We expected strong seasonal relationships between vegetation biomass and quality, and biomass of water-dependent herbivores with increasing distance to water. Our analyses of herbivore distribution across the region confirmed broad-scale descriptions of interactions between forage requirements and water availability across a set of species which differ in functional traits.

scholarly journals The influence of baboon predation and time in water on germination and early establishment of Opuntia stricta (Australian pest pear) in the Kruger National Park

Koedoe ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
W.D. Lotter ◽  
L. Thatcher ◽  
L. Rossouw ◽  
C.F. Reinhardt
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Weed Management ◽  
National Park ◽  
Sugar Content ◽  
Soluble Sugar ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Ripe Fruit ◽  
Total Soluble Sugar ◽  
Alien Invader

The alien invader weed, Opuntia stricta Haw (family Cactaceae), is seriously threatening biodiversity in veld habitats of the Kruger National Park. Basic biological and ecological information on the establishment, growth and reproduction of the species is necessary for the development of effective strategies for its control. The rapid spread of the plant is apparently mainly due to seed dispersal by baboon (Papio ursinus). Sixty percent of seed taken from baboon faeces resulted in seedlings that established. Although palatability criteria for ripe fruit were more favourable than for unripe or medium-ripe fruit, seed from fruit at all three degrees of ripeness germinated equally well, and seedling establishment was similar. Despite their lower acidity, as well as higher total soluble sugar content and pH, cladodes are not subject to herbivory to near the extent that ripe fruit are. Freshly collected seed kept in Sabie River water showed significantly better germination/emergence after seven days submersion (83 ) than at 14 or 28 days (52 and 66 , respectively). Results suggest that seed dispersal of the species by animals, principally baboon, is an important cause of rapidly expanding infestations, and that dissipation in water will intensify the problem. Current findings should contribute toward the development of long-term weed management strategies aimed at con- tainment/eradication of the weed.

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