Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, School of Engineering and Agriculture, University of Venda for Science and Technology, Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province, South Africa.
PeerJ. 2023 May 3;11:e15253. doi: 10.7717/peerj.15253. eCollection 2023.
Temporal partitioning in large carnivores have previously been found to be one of the main factors enabling co-existence. While activity patterns have been investigated separately at artificial waterholes and ., game trails, simultaneous comparative analyses of activity patterns at artificial waterholes and game trails have not been attempted. In this study, camera trap data from Maremani Nature Reserve was used to investigate whether temporal partitioning existed in a carnivore guild of four species (spotted hyena, leopard, brown hyena and African wild dog). Specifically, we investigated temporal partitioning at artificial waterholes and on roads and trails an average of 1,412 m away from an artificial waterhole. Activity patterns for the same species at artificial waterholes and roads/game trails were also compared. We found no significant differences in temporal activity between species at artificial waterholes. Temporal partitioning on game trails and roads was only found between spotted hyena (nocturnal) and African wild dog (crepuscular). Between nocturnal species (spotted hyena and leopard) no temporal partitioning was exhibited. Only African wild dog exhibited significantly different activity patterns at waterholes and roads/game trails. This indicates artificial waterholes may be a location for conflict in a carnivore guild. Our study highlights the impact of anthropogenic landscape changes and management decisions on the temporal axis of carnivores. More data on activity patterns at natural water sources such as ephemeral pans are needed to properly assess the effect of artificial waterholes on temporal partitioning in a carnivore guild.
大型食肉动物的时间分区一直被认为是共存的主要因素之一。虽然已经分别研究了人工水坑和. 上的活动模式，但尚未尝试同时对人工水坑和游戏径上的活动模式进行比较分析。在这项研究中，我们使用 Maremani 自然保护区的相机陷阱数据来调查四种物种（斑点鬣狗、豹、棕鬣狗和非洲野狗）的食肉动物群体是否存在时间分区。具体来说，我们调查了人工水坑和距离人工水坑平均 1412 米的道路和小径上的时间分区。我们还比较了相同物种在人工水坑和道路/游戏径上的活动模式。我们发现，在人工水坑中，物种之间的时间活动没有显著差异。在游戏径和道路上只有斑点鬣狗（夜间）和非洲野狗（黄昏）之间存在时间分区。在夜间活动的物种（斑点鬣狗和豹）之间没有表现出时间分区。只有非洲野狗在水坑和道路/游戏径上表现出明显不同的活动模式。这表明人工水坑可能是食肉动物群体中冲突的地点。我们的研究强调了人为景观变化和管理决策对食肉动物时间轴的影响。需要更多关于自然水源（如临时水坑）的活动模式数据，以正确评估人工水坑对食肉动物群体时间分区的影响。
