Social dispersal is an important feature of population dynamics. When female mammals occur in polygynous groups, their dispersal decisions are conditioned by various female‐, male‐, and group‐related factors. Among them, the influence of disease often remains difficult to assess. To address this challenge, we used long‐term monitoring data from two gorilla populations (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) affected by infectious skin disease lesions. After controlling for other potentially influential factors, we investigated to which extent disease avoidance drives the dispersal decisions of gorilla females. We showed that the infection of a silverback of a breeding group by the skin disease increased the probability of adult females to emigrate. Moreover, adult females avoided breeding groups with a high prevalence of skin disease by emigrating from them and immigrating into healthier ones. Age of the breeding group was also an important factor. Adult females left older groups, near the end of a male tenure, to join younger ones led by younger fully grown silverbacks that could be of high reproductive and protective value. Our study highlights that, although females select for high‐quality males, disease avoidance is a critical driver of their dispersion decision.
Understanding the relationship between habitat quality and population dynamics is fundamental for long-term management and range predictions in ecology. However, habitat suitability is generally only investigated at the individual scale, as it is the case for the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros), a species of conservation concern. Using a statistical modelling approach and census data of 94 lesser horseshoe bat colonies located in Brittany (France), we analysed the effect of landscape composition and configuration on the demography of surveyed maternity colonies (i.e. colony size, fecundity and growth rate), and compared our result to those provided by individual-based studies. Our results validated that the landscape in a 500meter buffer around colonies (core foraging area) is crucial for population size and dynamics, and confirmed the positive influence of broadleaved woodland proportion on bat colony size. We revealed a positive effect of lakeshores and riverbanks on colony size and growth rate, underlying the importance of these habitats for the long-term conservation of this non-migratory forest species. Importantly, our results refine previous knowledge concerning the threat posed by the intensification of human activities (e.g. urbanization, agriculture, habitat fragmentation), and highlight the negative effect of large and regular patches of artificial and crop lands and of open land patches shape complexity on all demographic variables investigated. Finally, by confirming and specifying the conclusions of previous individual level studies about lesser horseshoe bats' habitat selection and quality requirements, our results support the dependence of population dynamics and associated conservation management to individual behaviour and sensitivity.
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