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Experimental evidence that effects of megaherbivores on mesoherbivore space use are influenced by species’ traits

1. The extinction of 80% of megaherbivore (>1,000 kg) species towards the end of the Pleistocene altered vegetation structure, fire dynamics and nutrient cycling world-wide. Ecologists have proposed (re)introducing megaherbivores or their ecological analogues to restore lost ecosystem functions and reinforce extant but declining megaherbivore populations. However, the effects of megaherbivores on smaller herbivores are poorly understood. 2. We used long-term exclusion experiments and multispecies hierarchical models fitted to dung counts to test (a) the effect of megaherbivores (elephant and

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Behavioural responses of cattle to shared foraging with wild herbivores in an East African rangeland

We assessed whether prior foraging by wild herbivores affected foraging behaviour of cattle in Laikipia rangeland, Kenya, during February 2001, August 2001 and February 2002. The study compared cattle bite rate, step rate and bites per step in plots exclusively accessible to cattle and those accessible to cattle and large wild herbivores. During February 2001 when conditions were dry, cattle bite rate was 18–19% lower, step rate 25–26% higher, and bites per step 36% lower in plots shared by cattle

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Long-term persistence of wildlife populations in a pastoral area

Facilitating coexistence between people and wildlife is a major conservation challenge in East Africa. Some conservation models aim to balance the needs of people and wildlife, but the effectiveness of these models is rarely assessed. Using a case-study approach, we assessed the ecological performance of a pastoral area in northern Tanzania (Manyara Ranch) and established a long-term wildlife population monitoring program (carried out intermittently from 2003 to 2008 and regularly from 2011 to 2019) embedded in a distance sampling framework.

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DNA metabarcoding illuminates dietary niche partitioning by African large herbivores

Niche partitioning facilitates species coexistence in a world of limited resources, thereby enriching biodiversity. For decades, biologists have sought to understand how diverse assemblages of large mammalian herbivores (LMH) partition food resources. Several complementary mechanisms have been identified, including differential consumption of grasses versus nongrasses and spatiotemporal stratification in use of different parts of the same plant. However, the extent to which LMH partition food-plant species is largely unknown because comprehensive species-level identification is prohibitively difficult with traditional methods. We

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Dynamics of ungulates in relation to climatic and land use changes in an insularized African savanna ecosystem

Land use change and human population growth are accelerating the fragmentation and insularization of wildlife habitats worldwide. The conservation and management of wildlife in the resultant ‘island’ ecosystems in the context of global warming is challenging due to the isolation and reduced size of the ecosystems and hence the scale over which ecosystem processes can operate. We analyzed trends in numbers of nine large herbivores in Kenya’s Lake Nakuru National Park to understand how rainfall and temperature variability, surrounding land

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Effects of resource limitation on habitat usage by the browser guild in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa

Resource depletion and association increases in interspecific competition are likely to influence differential habitat usage amongst a guild. We tested some prominent theoretical concepts using observed differenced in seasonal habitat use amongst the savannah browser guild (elephant, giraffe, impala, kudu and nyala) in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, South Africa. Herbivore locations (n= 3108) were recorded over 2 y using repeated road transects and, for elephant, GPS collars (187254 downloads). Densities were calculated using a novel GIS approach designed to be a cost-effective

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Behavioral ecology in managed reserves: gender-based asymmetries in interspecific dominance in African elephants and rhinos

As large-bodied mammals become restricted to progressively smaller fragments of former habitat, competitive interactions and interspecies aggression are likely to intensify. Data on the outcomes of 159 encounters between endangered African pachyderms revealed that: (1) female elephants (Loxodonta africana) dominated both sexes of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis); and (2) rhino males but not females displaced elephant bulls. The results of an additional 127 interactions involving pacyderms and 12 additional mammals ranging in size from cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) to giraffe (Giraffa

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Winning by a neck – Sexual selection in the evolution of giraffe

A classic example of extreme morphological adaptation to the environment is the neck of the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), a trait that most biologists since Darwin have attributed to competition with other mammalian browsers. However, in searching for present-day evidence for the maintenance of the long neck, we find that during the dry season (when feeding competition should be most intense) giraffe generally feed from low shrubs, not tall trees; females spend over 50% of their time feeding with their necks

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