Spatial ecology of free-ranging cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and its applications to mitigate the farmer-cheetah conflict in Namibia Inaugural dissertation to obtain the academic degree doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.) submitted to the Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy of the Freie Universität Berlin by JÖRG MELZHEIMER from Berlin, Germany Berlin, 2019 Diese Dissertation wurde am Leibniz-Institut für Zoo- und Wildtierforschung in Berlin im Zeitraum Juni 2005 bis Februar 2019 unter der Leitung von Dr. Bettina Wachter und Prof. Dr. Heribert Hofer angefertigt und an dem Institut für Biologie der Fakultät für Biologie, Chemie und Pharmazie der Freien Universität Berlin eingereicht. 1. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Heribert Hofer 2. Gutachterin: Prof. Dr. Britta Tietjen Disputation am: 21.8.2019 1 This dissertation is based on the following two publications and one manuscript: 1. Melzheimer J, Streif S, Wasiolka B, Fischer M, Thalwitzer S, Heinrich SK, Weigold A, Hofer H, Wachter B 2018: Queuing, take-overs, and becoming a fat cat: Long-term data reveal two distinct male spatial tactics at different life-history stages in Namibian cheetahs. Ecosphere 9(6): e02308. Doi: 10.1002/ecs2.2308. Own contribution to this publication: co-designed the study, conducted the field work and collected the data, analyzed the data, wrote the manuscript. 2. Edwards S, Fischer M, Wachter B, Melzheimer J 2018: Coping with intrasexual behavioural differences: Capture-recapture abundance estimation of male cheetah. Ecology and Evolution 8:9171-9180. Doi: 10.1002/ece3.4410. Own contribution to this publication: co-designed the study, co-supervised the master thesis on which parts of this manuscript are based, i.e. supervised the data collection and analyses, and commented on the manuscript. 3. Melzheimer J et al: Shifting cattle herds away from communication hubs of cheetahs solves the cheetah-farmer conflict (in preparation) Own contribution to this publication: co-designed the study, conducted the field work and collected the data, analyzed the data, wrote the manuscript. 2 Table of Content 1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... 5 2. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG ...................................................................................................................... 8 3. SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 12 4. GENERAL INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 15 4.1 Global distribution of cheetahs ............................................................................................. 15 4.2 Threats and conservation status of cheetahs ....................................................................... 16 4.3 The Cheetah Research Project (CRP) of the Leibniz-IZW ...................................................... 18 4.4 Social and spatial organization of cheetahs .......................................................................... 21 4.5 Estimating population abundance and density in cheetahs ................................................. 23 4.6 Human-cheetah conflict and its mitigation ........................................................................... 26 4.7 Objectives of this thesis ......................................................................................................... 31 4.8 References ............................................................................................................................. 35 5. Queuing, take-overs, and becoming a fat cat: Long-term data reveal two distinct male spatial tactics at different life-history stages in Namibian cheetahs ................................................................ 46 6. Coping with intrasexual behavioural differences: Capture-recapture abundance estimation of male cheetah ......................................................................................................................................... 65 3 7. Shifting cattle herds away from communication hubs of cheetahs solves the cheetah-farmer conflict ................................................................................................................................................... 79 7.1 Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 80 7.2 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 80 7.3 Results ................................................................................................................................... 85 7.4 Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 88 7.5 Methods ................................................................................................................................ 97 7.6 References ........................................................................................................................... 101 7.7 Figure legends and figures .................................................................................................. 108 8. GENERAL DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................. 121 8.1 Spatial tactics of cheetah males represent life-history stages ............................................ 121 8.2 Best capture-recapture models for cheetah allowing for heterogeneity in detection ....... 124 8.3 Novel and successful mitigation strategy for human-cheetah conflicts ............................. 128 8.4 Conclusion and perspectives ............................................................................................... 133 8.5 References ........................................................................................................................... 136 9. CURRICULUM VITAE .................................................................................................................... 141 10. PUBLICATION LIST ................................................................................................................... 142 10.1 Journal Publications ............................................................................................................. 142 10.2 Book Chapters ..................................................................................................................... 147 11. INNOVATIONS/PATENTS ......................................................................................................... 148 12. SELBSTÄNDIGKEITSERKLÄRUNG .............................................................................................. 154 4 1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am expressing my deepest gratitude to everyone inside and outside the Cheetah Research Project (CRP) who accompanied and helped me during the research presented here. People who visited the Cheetah Research Project and its teams in the field know about the incredible passion we share for our project and for our research on the free-ranging Namibian cheetahs. This is the bond that glues this team so strongly together and that makes working for and with this team so inspiring and exciting. Therefore my first thanks goes to THE team and to you, Bettina in particular. The way you run this project sparks and facilitates this common passion for research and allows people to grow and in consequence to contribute even more to the common bigger scope and aims of the project. Your strong interest in evolutionary science and your thorough and exhaustive approach to scientific thinking and writing combined with patience and diligence thought me a lot. Having said this, I am similarly grateful to you, Heribert, for always having our back and giving advice when needed. I am vividly remembering multi-hour-consultations when we designed and developed the next research steps conceptually. You, members of CRP-family, Rebekka, Ruben, Ralf, Dirk, Sarah, Lisa, Severin, Birk, Bernd, Miha, Manuela, Lea, Sabrina, Annika, Susanne, Benedicta, Bobo and Sammy were/are awesome people to work with. It was/is a privilege to work with you! All you, our handpicked volunteers and students were an important asset in the day to day field work and I am grateful for your work, for lasting friendships and happy that many of you are in related positions today resulting in an awesome global network of IZW-CRP alumni with a lot of carnivore expertise. 5 A particular thanks goes to our pilots, the late Uwe Herbert and Nico Louw. I spent uncountable hours flying with Uwe, and will always remember him as the ‘flying gentlemen’, invariably happy and smiling when airborne with LCE, his beloved Piper Super Cub. This project wouldn’t be possible without the farmers on whose ground the cheetahs and the cheetah researchers roam. The farmers of the Seeis Conservancy, the Auas Oanob Conservancy and the Hochfeld Conservancy have been particularly helpful in the research as well as the farmers of the Witvlei Farmers Union which accepted me as part of the community. Namely I want to thank Wildfried and Sonja, Christian and Uschi, Uli and Irmgard, Kalli and Nati, Harald and Erika, Siggi and Heide as well as Siggi and Hilde. Ortwin, thank you very much for training and advising me in the chemical immobilisation