Competition between sympatric wolf taxa: an example involving African and Ethiopian wolves
Carnivore populations are declining globally due to range contraction, persecution and prey depletion. One consequence of these patterns is increased range and niche overlap with other carnivores, and thus an elevated potential for competitive exclusion. Here, we document competition between an enda...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.172207 |
| _version_ | 1818502394077511680 |
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| author | Tariku Mekonnen Gutema Anagaw Atickem Afework Bekele Claudio Sillero-Zubiri Mohammed Kasso Diress Tsegaye Vivek V. Venkataraman Peter J. Fashing Dietmar Zinner Nils C. Stenseth |
| author_facet | Tariku Mekonnen Gutema Anagaw Atickem Afework Bekele Claudio Sillero-Zubiri Mohammed Kasso Diress Tsegaye Vivek V. Venkataraman Peter J. Fashing Dietmar Zinner Nils C. Stenseth |
| author_sort | Tariku Mekonnen Gutema |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Carnivore populations are declining globally due to range contraction, persecution and prey depletion. One consequence of these patterns is increased range and niche overlap with other carnivores, and thus an elevated potential for competitive exclusion. Here, we document competition between an endangered canid, the Ethiopian wolf (EW), and the newly discovered African wolf (AW) in central Ethiopia. The diet of the ecological specialist EW was dominated by rodents, whereas the AW consumed a more diverse diet also including insects and non-rodent mammals. EWs used predominantly intact habitat, whereas AWs used mostly areas disturbed by humans and their livestock. We observed 82 encounters between the two species, of which 94% were agonistic. The outcomes of agonistic encounters followed a territory-specific dominance pattern, with EWs dominating in intact habitat and AWs in human-disturbed areas. For AWs, the likelihood of winning encounters also increased with group size. Rodent species consumed by EWs were also available in the human-disturbed areas, suggesting that these areas could be suitable habitat for EWs if AWs were not present. Increasing human encroachment not only affects the prey base of EWs, but also may impact their survival by intensifying competition with sympatric AWs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T21:09:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-03b6797562644d3d9ea42142a1d42063 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T21:09:39Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-03b6797562644d3d9ea42142a1d420632022-12-22T01:33:30ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032018-01-015510.1098/rsos.172207172207Competition between sympatric wolf taxa: an example involving African and Ethiopian wolvesTariku Mekonnen GutemaAnagaw AtickemAfework BekeleClaudio Sillero-ZubiriMohammed KassoDiress TsegayeVivek V. VenkataramanPeter J. FashingDietmar ZinnerNils C. StensethCarnivore populations are declining globally due to range contraction, persecution and prey depletion. One consequence of these patterns is increased range and niche overlap with other carnivores, and thus an elevated potential for competitive exclusion. Here, we document competition between an endangered canid, the Ethiopian wolf (EW), and the newly discovered African wolf (AW) in central Ethiopia. The diet of the ecological specialist EW was dominated by rodents, whereas the AW consumed a more diverse diet also including insects and non-rodent mammals. EWs used predominantly intact habitat, whereas AWs used mostly areas disturbed by humans and their livestock. We observed 82 encounters between the two species, of which 94% were agonistic. The outcomes of agonistic encounters followed a territory-specific dominance pattern, with EWs dominating in intact habitat and AWs in human-disturbed areas. For AWs, the likelihood of winning encounters also increased with group size. Rodent species consumed by EWs were also available in the human-disturbed areas, suggesting that these areas could be suitable habitat for EWs if AWs were not present. Increasing human encroachment not only affects the prey base of EWs, but also may impact their survival by intensifying competition with sympatric AWs.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.172207canis lupastercanis simensisinterference competitionexploitative competitioncarnivore conservation |
| spellingShingle | Tariku Mekonnen Gutema Anagaw Atickem Afework Bekele Claudio Sillero-Zubiri Mohammed Kasso Diress Tsegaye Vivek V. Venkataraman Peter J. Fashing Dietmar Zinner Nils C. Stenseth Competition between sympatric wolf taxa: an example involving African and Ethiopian wolves Royal Society Open Science canis lupaster canis simensis interference competition exploitative competition carnivore conservation |
| title | Competition between sympatric wolf taxa: an example involving African and Ethiopian wolves |
| title_full | Competition between sympatric wolf taxa: an example involving African and Ethiopian wolves |
| title_fullStr | Competition between sympatric wolf taxa: an example involving African and Ethiopian wolves |
| title_full_unstemmed | Competition between sympatric wolf taxa: an example involving African and Ethiopian wolves |
| title_short | Competition between sympatric wolf taxa: an example involving African and Ethiopian wolves |
| title_sort | competition between sympatric wolf taxa an example involving african and ethiopian wolves |
| topic | canis lupaster canis simensis interference competition exploitative competition carnivore conservation |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.172207 |
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