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To drink or not to drink? The influence of resource availability on elephant foraging and habitat selection in a semi-arid savanna

机译：喝还是不喝？资源可用性对半干旱热带稀树草原大象觅食和栖息地选择的影响

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摘要

Water and forage are key non-substitutable resources for herbivores in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. The distribution of surface water determines the distribution and abundance of water dependent animal species: yet little is known about the processes involved at the individual level. Thirteen African savanna elephant family groups and ten bulls (Loxodonta Africana) were tracked with GPS collars within and on the outskirts of Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Elephants behave as multiple central place foragers: They visit waterholes periodically every 5h, 24h, 48h or 72h and travel further from water during longer trips. During the dry season, temperatures increase and forage becomes depleted closer to water. Elephant family groups visit waterholes more often by increasing the proportion of briefer trips and abandoning 72h trips. However, they forage further during 24h trips by increasing travelling speed. Elephant movement patterns reveal that locomotional and navigational abilities are at the core of their coping strategies although these abilities are seldom allowed to vary in most foraging models of animal's use of heterogeneously distributed resources. During these foraging trips, family herds select areas with low waterhole density at multiple scales. Selection strength for low density areas increases with both distance to water and the advancement of the dry season. While scaling effects are widely recognized, the effects of the spatial distribution of multiple central places constraining foraging have been ignored although they determine depletion effects and their feedbacks on habitat selection. I also showed that elephant and buffalo strongly avoid livestock and people that herd them at the boundary of a protected area during the rainy season. Nevertheless, avoidance decreases during the dry season when foraging and drinking resources become scarce. Elephants are increasingly constrained by surface water availability during the dry season as their drinking requirements increase while they strive to maintain their forage intake. This study provides quantitative assessment of individual water dependence and of landscape effects of surface water distribution on a large herbivore. These findings can inform surface water management in contexts of aridification resulting from climate change. (Résumé d'auteur)
机译：水和牧草是干旱和半干旱生态系统中草食动物的重要不可替代资源。地表水的分布决定了依赖水的动物物种的分布和丰度：但对个体水平涉及的过程知之甚少。在津巴布韦万基国家公园内外，利用GPS项圈追踪了13个非洲大草原象族群和10个公牛（非洲象）。大象表现为多个中央捕食者：它们每5小时，24小时，48小时或72小时定期造访水坑，并在更长的行程中远离水面行进。在干旱季节，温度升高，草料变得更接近水。大象家庭团体通过增加短暂旅行的比例和放弃72小时旅行来更频繁地访问水坑。但是，它们会在24小时旅行中通过提高行进速度进一步觅食。大象的运动模式表明，机车和航行能力是其应对策略的核心，尽管在大多数动物利用异质分布资源的觅食模型中，很少允许这些能力发生变化。在这些觅食之旅中，家畜群在多个尺度上选择水坑密度低的区域。低密度地区的选择强度随着距水的距离和旱季的增加而增加。尽管人们普遍认识到了尺度效应，但忽略了限制觅食的多个中心地点的空间分布效应，尽管它们决定了耗竭效应及其对生境选择的反馈。我还表明，大象和水牛在雨季强烈避开牲畜和在保护区边界放牧的人。然而，在干旱季节，当觅食和饮水资源变得稀缺时，回避减少。大象在干旱季节越来越受地表水供应的限制，因为他们在努力保持草料摄入量的同时，对饮水的需求增加。这项研究提供了对个体水依赖性和地表水分布对大型草食动物的景观影响的定量评估。这些发现可为气候变化导致的干旱化提供参考。 （Résuméd'auteur）

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    Valls Fox Hugo;

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