Department of Wildlife Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
Centre for Woman's Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
PLoS One. 2020 Mar 11;15(3):e0229045. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229045. eCollection 2020.
Time and space are essential niche dimensions along which species tend to coexist. We assessed spatiotemporal resource partitioning between leopards and lions and hypothesized the differential use of spatiotemporal resources by leopards with respect to lions. We used a systematic camera trap survey to collect the data at 50 sites. The data were analyzed using overlap indices, and non-parametric test statistics to assess the spatiotemporal associations. Leopard and lion were crepuscular and nocturnal in their activity pattern. They did not segregate temporally and showed substantially high overlap and strong temporal association. Leopard segregates with lion spatially by overlapping less and showing no association in space use at specific camera trap sites. Leopards showed preference for dense habitats, while the lion preferred both dense and open habitats. Leopard showed moderate-overlap and positive association with key prey species, i.e., chital and sambar. Lion, however showed low site-specific overlap and negative association with its crucial prey species, i.e., sambar and wild pig. We conclude that site-specific spatial partitioning along with differential affinities for habitat is helping leopards to partition their spatio-temporal resources with lions and hence facilitate coexistence of leopards with lions in Gir forest.
时间和空间是物种共存的重要生态位维度。我们评估了豹和狮子之间的时空资源分割，并假设豹相对于狮子会有差异地利用时空资源。我们使用系统的相机陷阱调查在 50 个地点收集数据。使用重叠指数和非参数测试统计来评估时空关联。豹和狮子的活动模式为黄昏和夜间型。它们没有时间上的隔离，表现出高度的重叠和强烈的时间关联。豹通过重叠较少与狮子在空间上隔离，在特定的相机陷阱地点没有空间使用上的关联。豹偏爱密集的栖息地，而狮子则偏爱密集和开阔的栖息地。豹与关键猎物物种（如梅花鹿和水鹿）表现出中度重叠和正关联。然而，狮子与关键猎物物种（如水鹿和野猪）的特定地点的重叠度低且呈负关联。我们的结论是，特定于地点的空间分割以及对栖息地的不同偏好有助于豹与狮子分割它们的时空资源，从而促进在吉尔森林中豹与狮子的共存。
