Habitat quality and heterogeneity influence distribution and behavior in African buffalo (syncerus caffer)

Ecology

Volumn 89, Issue 5, 2008, Pages 1457-1468

  Winnie Jr , John A ^a   Cross, Paul ^a,b   Getz, Wayne ^c  

^a MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b U S GEOLOGICAL SURVEY   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

African buffalo; Behavior; Distribution; Forage heterogeneity; Foraging; Herd size; Home range; Hotspots; Predation; Syncerus caffer

Indexed keywords

FOOD QUALITY; FORAGING BEHAVIOR; GROUP SIZE; HABITAT QUALITY; HETEROGENEITY; HOME RANGE; PREDATION RISK; RANGE SIZE; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION; UNGULATE;

SYNCERUS CAFFER;

ANIMAL; ANIMAL BEHAVIOR; ARTICLE; BUFFALO; DEMOGRAPHY; ECOSYSTEM; PHYSIOLOGY; POACEAE; SOIL; SOUTH AFRICA;

ANIMALS; BEHAVIOR, ANIMAL; BUFFALOES; DEMOGRAPHY; ECOSYSTEM; POACEAE; SOIL; SOUTH AFRICA;

EID: 46749155877     PISSN: 00129658     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1890/07-0772.1     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. AHEAD-GLTFCA Working Group 2006. AHEAD-GLTFCA Working Group-Sixth Meeting. 9-10 March 2006. Pestana Kruger Lodge, Malelane, South Africa. (http://www.wcs-ahead.org/workinggrps-limpopo.Html)
2. Bell, R. H. V. 1982. The effects of soil nutrient availability on community structure in African ecosystems. Pages 193-216 in B. J. Huntley and B. H. Walker, editors. The ecology of tropical savannas. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany.
3. Chapman, D. G. 1951. Some properties of the hypergeometric distribution with applications to zoological censuses. University of California Publications in Statistics 1:131-160.
4. Chesson, P., and M. Rosenzweig. 1991. Behavior, heterogeneity, and the dynamics of interacting species. Ecology 72: 1187-1195.
5. Creel, S., D. Christiansen, S. Liley, and J. Winnie, Jr. 2007. Predation risk affects reproductive physiology and demography of elk. Science 315:96.
6. Creel, S., and J. Winnie, Jr. 2005. Responses of elk herd size to fine-scale spatial and temporal variation in the risk of predation by wolves. Animal Behaviour 69:1181-1189.
7. Cross, P. C., J. O. Lloyd-Smith, J. A. Bowers, C. T. Hay, M. Hofmeyr, and W. Getz. 2004. Integrating association data and disease dynamics in a social ungulate: bovine tuberculosis in African buffalo in the Kruger National Park. Annates Zoologici Fennici 41:979-892.
8. Cross, P. C., J. O. Lloyd-Smith, and W. M. Getz. 2005. Disentangling association patterns in fission-fusion societies using African buffalo as an example. Animal Behaviour 69: 499-506.
9. Eckhardt, H. C., B. W. van Wilgen, and H. C. Biggs. 2000. Trends in woody vegetation cover in Kruger National Park, South Africa, between 1940 and 1988. African Journal of Ecology 38:108-115.
10. Elgar, M. A. 1989. Predator vigilance and group size in mammals and birds: a critical review of the empirical evidence. Biological Review 64:13-33.
11. Frank, D. A., and P. M. Groffman. 1998. Ungulate vs. landscape control of soil C and N processes in grasslands of Yellowstone National Park. Ecology 79:2229-2241.
12. Frank, D. A., R. S. Inouye, N. Huntly, G. W. Minshall, and J. E. Anderson. 1994. The biogeochemistry of a north-temperate grassland with native ungulates: nitrogen dynamics in Yellowstone National Park. Biogeochemistry 26(3): 163-188.
13. Fryxell, J. M., J. Greever, and A. R. E. Sinclair. 1988. Why are migratory ungulates so abundant? American Naturalist 131(6):781-798.
14. Fryxell, J. M., J. F. Wilmhurst, and A. R. E. Sinclair. 2004. Predictive models of movement by Serengeti grazers, Ecology 85:2429-2435.
15. Gagnon, M., and A. Chew. 2000. Dietary preferences in extant African Bovidae. Journal of Mammalogy 81(2):490-511.
16. Gertenbach, W. P. D. 1983. Landscapes of the Kruger National Park. Koedoe 26:9-121.
17. Getz, W. M. 1996. A hypothesis regarding the abruptness of density dependence and the growth rate of populations. Ecology 77:2014-2026.
18. Getz, W. M., S. Fortmann-Roe, P. C. Cross, A. J. Lyons, S. J. Ryan, and C. C. Wilmers. 2007. LoCoH: non-parametric kernel methods for constructing home ranges and utilization distributions. PLoS One 2(2):e207.
19. Getz, W. M., and C. C. Wilmers. 2004. A local nearest neighbor convex-hull construction of home-ranges and utilization distributions. Ecography 27:489-504.
20. Heithaus, M. R., and L. M. Dill. 2002. Food availability and tiger shark predation risk influence bottlenose dolphin habitat use. Ecology 83:480-491.
21. Jarman, P. J. 1974, The social organization of antelope in relation to their ecology. Behaviour 48(3-4):215-267.
22. Kruse, J. K., N. E. Christians, and M. H. Chaplin. 2006. Remote sensing of nitrogen stress in creeping bentgrass. Agronomy Journal 98:1640-1645.
23. Macandza, V. A., N. Owen-Smith, and P. C. Cross. 2004. Forage selection by African buffalo in the late dry season in two landscapes. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 34(2): 113-121.
24. McNaughton, S. J. 1984. Grazing lawns: animals in herds, plant form, and co-evolution. American Naturalist 124(6):863-886.
25. McNaughton, S. J. 1985. Ecology of a grazing system: the Serengeti. Ecological Monographs 55:259-294.
26. McNaughton, S. J., F. F. Banykwa, and M. M. McNaughton. 1997. Promotion of the cycling of diet-enhancing nutrients by African grazers. Science 278:1798-1800.
27. McNaughton, S. J., R. W. Ruess, and S. W. Seagle. 1988. Large mammals and process dynamics in African ecosystems. BioScicnce 38(11):794-800.
28. Mills, M. G., H. C. Biggs, and I. J. Whyte. 1995. The relationship between rainfall, lion predation and population trends in African herbivores. Wildlife Research 22:75-88.
29. Morgantini, L. E., and R. J. Hudson. 1985. Changes in diets of Wapiti during a hunting season. Journal of Range Management 38:77-79.
30. Murray, M. G., and A. W. Illius. 2000. Vegetation modification and resource competition in grazing ungulates. Oikos 89:501-508.
31. Mutanga, O., H. H. T. Prins, A. K. Skidmore, S. van Wieren, H. Huizing, R. Grant, M. Peel, and H. Biggs. 2004. Explaining grass-nutrient patterns in a savanna rangeland of southern Africa. Journal of Biogeography 31:819-829.
32. Ogutu, J. O., and R. N. Owen-Smith. 2005. Oscillations in large mammal populations: are they related to predation or rainfall? African Journal of Ecology 43:332-339.
33. Owen-Smith, N., and D. H. M. Cumming. 1993. Comparative foraging strategies of grazing ungulates in African savanna grasslands. Proceedings of the International Grassland Congress 17:691-697.
34. Polis, G. A., W. B. Anderson, and R. D. Holt. 1997. Toward an integration of landscape and food web ecology: the dynamics of spatially subsidized food webs. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 28:289-316.
35. Pollock, K. H., J. D. Nichols, C. Brownie, and J. E. Hines. 1990. Statistical inference for capture-recapture experiments. Wildlife Monographs 107:1-97,
36. Prins, H. H. T. 1996. Ecology and behaviour of the African Buffalo: social inequality and decision making. Chapman and Hall, London, UK.
37. Radloff, F. G., and J. T. Du Toit. 2004. Large predators and their prey in a southern African savanna: a predator's size determines its prey size range. Journal of Animal Ecology 73: 410-423.
38. Rasmussen, H. B., G. Wittemyer, and I. Douglas-Hamilton. 2006. Predicting time-specific changes in demographic processes using remote-sensing data. Journal of Applied Ecology 43:366-376.
39. Rasmussen, M. G. 1998. Developing simple, operational, consistent NDVI-vegetation models by applying environmental and climatic information: Part I. Assessment of net primary production, International Journal of Remote Sensing 19(1):97-117.
40. Rodwell, T. C., N. P. Kriek, R. G. Bengis, I. J. Whyte, P. C. Viljoen, V. De Vos, and W. M. Boyce. 2000. Prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in African buffalo at Kruger National Park. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 37:258-264.
41. Ryan, S. J. 2006. Spatial ecology of African buffalo and their resources in a savanna ecosystem. Dissertation. University of California, Berkeley. California. USA.
42. Ryan, S. J., C. U. Knechtel, and W. M. Getz. 2006. Range and habitat selection of African buffalo in South Africa. Journal of Wildlife Management 70(3):764-776.
43. Schaller, G. 1972. The Serengeti lion: a study of predator-prey relations. Wildlife Behaviour and Ecology Series. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
44. Scheel, D. 1993. Watching for lions in the grass: the usefulness of scanning and its effects during hunts. Animal Behaviour 46:695-704.
45. Scholes, M. C., R. J. Scholes, L. B. Otter, and A. J. Woghiren. 2003. Biogeochemistry: the cycling of elements. Pages 130-148 in J. T. Du Toit, K. H. Rogers, and H. C. Biggs, editors. The Kruger experience: ecology and management of savanna heterogeneity. Island Press, Washington, D.C., USA.
46. Scholes, R. J. 1990. The influence of soil fertility on the ecology of southern African dry savannas. Journal of Biogeography 17:415-419.
47. Sinclair, A. R. E. 1977. The African buffalo: a study of resource limitation of populations. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
48. Sinclair, A. R. E., and P. Arcese. 1995. Population consequences of predation sensitive foraging: the Serengeti wildebeest. Ecology 76:882-891.
49. Sinclair, A. R. E., and M. D. Gwynne. 1972. Food selection and competition in east African buffalo (Syncerus caffer Sparrman). East African Wildlife Journal 10:77-89.
50. Sinclair, A. R. E., S. Mduma, and J. S. Brashares. 2003. Patterns of predation in a diverse predator-prey system. Nature 425:288-290.
51. Starks, P. J., D. Zhao, W. A. Phillips, and S. W. Coleman. 2006. Herbage mass, nutritive value and canopy spectral reflectance of bermudagrass pastures. Grass and Forage Science 61:101-111.
52. Underwood, R. 1982. Vigilance behaviour in grazing African antelopes. Behaviour 79:81-107.
53. Ungar, E. D., and I. Noy-Meir. 1988. Herbage intake in relation to availability and sward structure: grazing processes and optimal foraging. Journal of Applied Ecology 25(3): 1045-1062.
54. van Wildgen, B. W., W. S. W. Trollope, H. C. Biggs, A. L. F. Potgieter, and B. H. Brockett. 2003. Fire as a driver of ecosystem variability. Pages 149-170 in J. T. Du Toit, K. H. Rogers, and H. C. Biggs, editors. The Kruger experience: ecology and management of savanna heterogeneity. Island Press, Washington, D.C., USA.
55. Venter, F. J., R. J. Scholes, and H. C. Eckhardt. 2003. The abiotic template and its associated vegetation pattern. Pages 83-129 in J. T. Du Toit, K. H. Rogers, and H. C. Biggs, editors. The Kruger experience: ecology and management of savanna heterogeneity. Island Press, Washington, D.C., USA.
56. Winnie, J., Jr., and S. Creel. 2007. Sex-specific behavioural response to spatial and temporal variation in the threat of wolf predation. Animal Behaviour 73:215-225.
57. Wittemyer, G., H. B. Rasmussen, and I. Douglas-Hamilton. 2007. Breeding phenology in relation to NDVI variability in free-ranging African elephant. Ecography 30:42-50.
58. Zar, J. H. 1999. Biostatistical analysis. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA.