Context‐dependency in carnivore co‐occurrence across a multi‐use conservation landscape
Abstract Carnivore intraguild dynamics depend on a complex interplay of environmental affinities and interspecific interactions. Context‐dependency is commonly expected with varying suites of interacting species and environmental conditions but seldom empirically described. In South Africa, decentra...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9239 |
| _version_ | 1811213108887158784 |
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| author | Gonçalo Curveira‐Santos Laura Gigliotti Chris Sutherland Daniela Rato Margarida Santos‐Reis Lourens H. Swanepoel |
| author_facet | Gonçalo Curveira‐Santos Laura Gigliotti Chris Sutherland Daniela Rato Margarida Santos‐Reis Lourens H. Swanepoel |
| author_sort | Gonçalo Curveira‐Santos |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Carnivore intraguild dynamics depend on a complex interplay of environmental affinities and interspecific interactions. Context‐dependency is commonly expected with varying suites of interacting species and environmental conditions but seldom empirically described. In South Africa, decentralized approaches to conservation and the resulting multi‐tenure conservation landscapes have markedly altered the environmental stage that shapes the structure of local carnivore assemblages. We explored assemblage‐wide patterns of carnivore spatial (residual occupancy probability) and temporal (diel activity overlap) co‐occurrence across three adjacent wildlife‐oriented management contexts—a provincial protected area, a private ecotourism reserve, and commercial game ranches. We found that carnivores were generally distributed independently across space, but existing spatial dependencies were context‐specific. Spatial overlap was most common in the protected area, where species occur at higher relative abundances, and in game ranches, where predator persecution presumably narrows the scope for spatial asymmetries. In the private reserve, spatial co‐occurrence patterns were more heterogeneous but did not follow a dominance hierarchy associated with higher apex predator densities. Pair‐specific variability suggests that subordinate carnivores may alternate between pre‐emptive behavioral strategies and fine‐scale co‐occurrence with dominant competitors. Consistency in species‐pairs diel activity asynchrony suggested that temporal overlap patterns in our study areas mostly depend on species' endogenous clock rather than the local context. Collectively, our research highlights the complexity and context‐dependency of guild‐level implications of current management and conservation paradigms; specifically, the unheeded potential for interventions to influence the local network of carnivore interactions with unknown population‐level and cascading effects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T05:41:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eb31d518036e4a38949c0f50dbdc7e98 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T05:41:33Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-eb31d518036e4a38949c0f50dbdc7e982022-12-22T03:45:39ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582022-08-01128n/an/a10.1002/ece3.9239Context‐dependency in carnivore co‐occurrence across a multi‐use conservation landscapeGonçalo Curveira‐Santos0Laura Gigliotti1Chris Sutherland2Daniela Rato3Margarida Santos‐Reis4Lourens H. Swanepoel5Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculdade de Ciências Universidade de Lisboa Lisbon PortugalDepartment of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California Berkeley Berkeley CA USACentre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling University of St Andrews St Andrews UKCentre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculdade de Ciências Universidade de Lisboa Lisbon PortugalCentre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculdade de Ciências Universidade de Lisboa Lisbon PortugalDepartment of Zoology, School of Mathematical & Natural Sciences University of Venda Thohoyandou South AfricaAbstract Carnivore intraguild dynamics depend on a complex interplay of environmental affinities and interspecific interactions. Context‐dependency is commonly expected with varying suites of interacting species and environmental conditions but seldom empirically described. In South Africa, decentralized approaches to conservation and the resulting multi‐tenure conservation landscapes have markedly altered the environmental stage that shapes the structure of local carnivore assemblages. We explored assemblage‐wide patterns of carnivore spatial (residual occupancy probability) and temporal (diel activity overlap) co‐occurrence across three adjacent wildlife‐oriented management contexts—a provincial protected area, a private ecotourism reserve, and commercial game ranches. We found that carnivores were generally distributed independently across space, but existing spatial dependencies were context‐specific. Spatial overlap was most common in the protected area, where species occur at higher relative abundances, and in game ranches, where predator persecution presumably narrows the scope for spatial asymmetries. In the private reserve, spatial co‐occurrence patterns were more heterogeneous but did not follow a dominance hierarchy associated with higher apex predator densities. Pair‐specific variability suggests that subordinate carnivores may alternate between pre‐emptive behavioral strategies and fine‐scale co‐occurrence with dominant competitors. Consistency in species‐pairs diel activity asynchrony suggested that temporal overlap patterns in our study areas mostly depend on species' endogenous clock rather than the local context. Collectively, our research highlights the complexity and context‐dependency of guild‐level implications of current management and conservation paradigms; specifically, the unheeded potential for interventions to influence the local network of carnivore interactions with unknown population‐level and cascading effects.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9239camera trapconservation managementco‐occupancyinterspecific interactionstemporal overlap |
| spellingShingle | Gonçalo Curveira‐Santos Laura Gigliotti Chris Sutherland Daniela Rato Margarida Santos‐Reis Lourens H. Swanepoel Context‐dependency in carnivore co‐occurrence across a multi‐use conservation landscape Ecology and Evolution camera trap conservation management co‐occupancy interspecific interactions temporal overlap |
| title | Context‐dependency in carnivore co‐occurrence across a multi‐use conservation landscape |
| title_full | Context‐dependency in carnivore co‐occurrence across a multi‐use conservation landscape |
| title_fullStr | Context‐dependency in carnivore co‐occurrence across a multi‐use conservation landscape |
| title_full_unstemmed | Context‐dependency in carnivore co‐occurrence across a multi‐use conservation landscape |
| title_short | Context‐dependency in carnivore co‐occurrence across a multi‐use conservation landscape |
| title_sort | context dependency in carnivore co occurrence across a multi use conservation landscape |
| topic | camera trap conservation management co‐occupancy interspecific interactions temporal overlap |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9239 |
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