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The Response of Lions (Panthera Leo) to Changes in Prey Abundance on an Enclosed Reserve in South Africa

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The Response of Lions (Panthera Leo) to Changes in Prey Abundance on an Enclosed Reserve in South Africa See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257802942 The response of lions (Panthera leo) to changes in prey abundance on an enclosed reserve in South Africa Article in Acta theriologica · July 2012 DOI: 10.1007/s13364-011-0071-8 CITATIONS READS 9 334 3 authors: Charlene Bissett R. T.F. Bernard South African National Parks University of Mpumalanga 20 PUBLICATIONS 675 CITATIONS 70 PUBLICATIONS 1,364 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Daniel M Parker Rhodes University 107 PUBLICATIONS 709 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: The Red List of Mammals of South Africa, Swaziland and Lesotho - CARNIVORES View project African wild dogs in Kruger National Park View project All content following this page was uploaded by Daniel M Parker on 25 March 2014. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. The response of lions (Panthera leo) to changes in prey abundance on an enclosed reserve in South Africa Charlene Bissett, Ric T. F. Bernard & Daniel M. Parker Acta Theriologica ISSN 0001-7051 Volume 57 Number 3 Acta Theriol (2012) 57:225-231 DOI 10.1007/s13364-011-0071-8 1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Bia#owie#a, Poland. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self- archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your work, please use the accepted author’s version for posting to your own website or your institution’s repository. You may further deposit the accepted author’s version on a funder’s repository at a funder’s request, provided it is not made publicly available until 12 months after publication. 1 23 Author's personal copy Acta Theriol (2012) 57:225–231 DOI 10.1007/s13364-011-0071-8 ORIGINAL PAPER The response of lions (Panthera leo) to changes in prey abundance on an enclosed reserve in South Africa Charlene Bissett & Ric T. F. Bernard & Daniel M. Parker Received: 25 August 2011 /Accepted: 18 December 2011 /Published online: 15 January 2012 # Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Białowieża, Poland 2012 Abstract Large mammalian carnivores place significant Keywords Diet switching . Large predators . Predator–prey pressure on their prey populations and this is exacerbated interaction . Prey preferences within the fenced reserves of Africa. However, foraging theory predicts that diet switching by predators may mitigate this pressure. In this study, we use data collected between Introduction 2003 and 2007 from an enclosed system in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa to examine the response of lions The diet of predators in multiple prey species systems is Panthera leo to changes in the abundance of two important affected by a range of factors including abundance of different prey species — kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros and warthog prey species and their vulnerability, anti-predator behavior Phacochoerus africanus. As the relative abundance of war- and defence, age and sex, and the presence of and interference thogs increased, the number of kudu kills decreased signif- from other predators (Perry and Pianka 1997; Garrott et al. icantly, whereas warthog kills became significantly more 2007). Vulnerability is not solely a species-specific character- frequent. A similar pattern was observed for lion prey pref- istic and will vary with body condition and therefore with age, erence and the switch from kudu to warthog was also reproductive status and environmental factors such as drought reflected in a significant decrease in the mean prey mass. (Owen-Smith and Mills 2008). Thus diet can vary in space Our results suggest that a diet shift occurs in lions and that and time. The optimal foraging theory (MacArthur and Pianka the change in diet is primarily in response to an increase in 1966) provides a theoretical framework against which feeding warthog numbers. Prey switching may promote the persis- behavior can be understood and predicts that the diet of tence of predator–prey systems, which is particularly impor- predators, such as lions Panthera leo, will vary as the relative tant for fenced systems where natural immigration of prey is abundance of one or more of a range of alternative prey species not possible. However, continued collection and analysis of varies (Pyke et al. 1977). This dietary variation may be sea- long-term observational data from the multipredator, multi- sonal as in some mustelids (Carss et al. 1998;Beggetal.2003) prey systems of Africa is required to facilitate a full under- and Geoffroy’scatLeopardus geoffroyi (Canepuccia et al. standing of predator–prey dynamics. 2007), where seasonal climate variation drives seasonal changes in food abundance. Alternatively, it may coincide with longer population cycles such as that of the snowshoe hare Lepus americanus where lynx Lynx canadensis switch to Communicated by: Dries Kuiper : : preyingonredsquirrelsTamiasciurus hudsonicus during peri- C. Bissett R. T. F. Bernard D. M. Parker ods of least hare abundance (O’Donoghue et al. 1998). Finally, Wildlife and Reserve Management Research Group, Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, it may be driven by longer cycles of climate change, such as Grahamstown 6139, South Africa drought, where one species may be more susceptible to drought than others and that species then becomes more vul- * C. Bissett ( ) nerable (Owen-Smith and Mills 2008). Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, Grahamstown 6139, South Africa The influence of generalist mammalian predators on prey e-mail: [email protected] population dynamics has been well studied (Korpimäki and Author's personal copy 226 Acta Theriol (2012) 57:225–231 Krebs 1996;Hanskietal.2001;Dell’Arte et al. 2007). Much 33°09 S, 26°37 E) in the Eastern Cape Province, South of this work has focussed on the effect of predators on the Africa. The reserve has a warm temperate climate with an well-known population cycles of rodents in the relatively average annual rainfall of 410 mm, and the vegetation is a simple systems of the northern hemisphere, and a central mosaic of open savanna-like areas and more thickly wooded theme has been that of predator switching which is thought areas (Mucina and Rutherford 2006). Rainfall data were to be responsible for controlling some population cycles recorded at one site in the center of the reserve on a monthly (Křivan 1996; van Baalen et al. 2001;Maetal.2003;Sundell basis. et al. 2003;Murrell2005). However, evidence from the south- ern Hemisphere (where ecosystems are generally more com- Data collection plex) suggests that other factors (e.g., disease) are also important in shaping the population cycles of prey animals Annual changes in lion numbers (Pech et al. 1992). While many of these studies have used an experimental approach, with invertebrate or small vertebrate The lions were located daily and thus the total number of models, it is the large mammalian predators that may be animals was known. The total number of lions is expressed expected to place the greatest pressure on their prey popula- in Female Equivalent Units (FEQs), where 1FEQ is equiv- tions because of their high daily energy requirements (Wil- alent to the mass of an adult female (Bertram 1973). An liams et al. 2004). However, comparatively little data exists adult male is 1.5FEQs, subadult lions 1FEQ, large cubs for Africa and the southern hemisphere in general (Viljoen (1–2 years) 0.75FEQ and small cubs (less than one year 1993; Höner et al. 2002; Owen-Smith and Mills 2008). This is old) 0.3FEQ (Schaller 1972; van Orsdol 1982; Packer et al. because direct experimentation using large mammalian pred- 1990). We calculated lion FEQs in July and December of ators is difficult and data can typically only be collected each year and used the average value in our analyses. through careful, long-term observation of natural systems (Estes 1994; Radloff and du Toit 2004; Owen-Smith and Mills Prey abundance 2008; Randa et al. 2009). The reintroduction of lions to enclosed conservation areas Annual, helicopter-based game counts were used to estimate in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and elsewhere the abundance of all prey species. Aerial counts were con- has created a range of conditions which we have used to study ducted over two to three consecutive days (weather depen- aspects of the feeding behavior of predators including the dent) in July/August of each year (i.e., the period after most response of predators to changes in prey abundance. At one ungulates had given birth) and covered the entire reserve of the sites of lion reintroduction (Kwandwe Private Game (Reilly and Emslie 1998; Reilly 2002; Bothma and du Toit Reserve), two prey species (kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros 2010). and warthog Phacochoerus africanus) from a total of 21 species killed, comprised more than 55% of all kills each year Carnivore diet (Bissett 2007). No other prey species comprised more than 10% of kills in any year. On Kwandwe, the numbers of We collected data for three small prides of lions (1–4 adults kudu and warthogs changed substantially over a rela- and 0–8 juveniles per pride) at Kwandwe between 2003 and tively short period, and here, we use data from this site 2007. At least one member of each pride was equipped with to examine the response of lions to the changes in the either a very high frequency (VHF) radio collar or an abundance of two principal prey species. We hypothe- implanted VHF transmitter (Africa Wildlife Tracking, Riet- sized that as the abundance of the primary prey species fontein, Gauteng, South Africa) which incorporated (i.e., kudu) declined, so significantly more alternative Telonics high-power transmitters (Telonics, Mesa, AZ, prey (i.e., warthog) would be consumed.
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