Satellite telemetry is an increasingly utilized technology in wildlife research, and current devices can track individual animal movements at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. However, as we enter the golden age of satellite telemetry, we need an in-depth understanding of the main technological, species-specific and environmental factors that determine the success and failure of satellite tracking devices across species and habitats. Here, we assess the relative influence of such factors on the ability of satellite telemetry units to provide the expected amount and quality of data by analyzing data from over 3,000 devices deployed on 62 terrestrial species in 167 projects worldwide. We evaluate the success rate in obtaining GPS fixes as well as in transferring these fixes to the user and we evaluate failure rates. Average fix success and data transfer rates were high and were generally better predicted by species and unit characteristics, while environmental characteristics influenced the variability of performance. However, 48% of the unit deployments ended prematurely, half of them due to technical failure. Nonetheless, this study shows that the performance of satellite telemetry applications has shown improvements over time, and based on our findings, we provide further recommendations for both users and manufacturers.
Introducing consumptive and non-consumptive effects into food webs can have profound effects on individuals, populations and communities. This knowledge has led to the deliberate use of predation and/or fear of predation as an emerging technique for controlling wildlife. Many now advocate for the intentional use of large carnivores and livestock guardian dogs as more desirable alternatives to traditional wildlife control approaches like fencing, shooting, trapping, or poisoning. However, there has been very little consideration of the animal welfare implications of deliberately using predation as a wildlife management tool. We assess the animal welfare impacts of using dingoes, leopards and guardian dogs as biocontrol tools against wildlife in Australia and South Africa following the 'Five Domains' model commonly used to assess other wildlife management tools. Application of this model indicates that large carnivores and guardian dogs cause considerable lethal and non-lethal animal welfare impacts to the individual animals they are intended to control. These impacts are likely similar across different predator-prey systems, but are dependent on specific predator-prey combinations; combinations that result in short chases and quick kills will be rated as less harmful than those that result in long chases and protracted kills. Moreover, these impacts are typically rated greater than those caused by traditional wildlife control techniques. The intentional lethal and non-lethal harms caused by large carnivores and guardian dogs should not be ignored or dismissively assumed to be negligible. A greater understanding of the impacts they impose would benefit from empirical studies of the animal welfare outcomes arising from their use in different contexts. Potgieter et al., 2013;Fleming et al., 2014). Adding predators to multipredator multi-prey systems can produce a variety of outcomes (Hairston et al., 1960;Holt and Lawton, 1994), including profound welfare effects on other species (Fleming et al., 2012). Both the nonlethal and lethal impacts of predators cause distress and/or death to
The use of land for pastoralism is often associated with a reduction in the diversity and abundance of wildlife and influences conflict between farmers and predators worldwide. We explored differences in the diversity and relative abundance of medium and large animals on farmlands and a nearby protected area and compared these differences to prey consumed by 3 sympatric predators (black‐backed jackal [Canis mesomelas], caracal [Caracal caracal], and leopard [Panthera pardus]) in the Karoo region of South Africa. All 3 predators, but especially jackals and caracals, are a source of conflict with small‐stock farmers, many of whom believe that predators use the protected area as a base for raiding farmland. We determined predator diets using 657 scats collected on both land uses in subsequent years. Domestic ungulates dominated the farming landscape and comprised the bulk of prey in the scats of jackals and caracals as determined by the frequency of occurrence (42% and 25%, respectively), percent volume (47% and 32%, respectively), and ingested biomass. By contrast jackals and caracals in the reserve fed primarily on fruits and micromammals, respectively, with a lower ingested biomass of mammalian prey. No domestic sheep were in any of the scats in the reserve. We found leopard scats only in the reserve and they mostly contained wild ungulates. Dietary niche breadth and overlap were higher on farms than in the reserve and were attributed to the high consumption of domestic livestock by jackal and caracal. Dietary overlap between medium‐sized predators and leopards was small. Caracals on farms and caracals and jackals in the reserve showed strong prey preference for wild mammals, whereas jackals on farms showed prey preference for goats and sheep over similar‐sized wild mammals. Leopards showed preference for bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus) and mountain‐dwelling antelopes but consumed baboons (Papio ursinus) according to availability. Together these results fill a gap in our knowledge about jackal and caracal diets on farmland and dietary niche relationships between 3 sympatric predators in conflict with small‐stock farmers in the semi‐arid regions of South Africa. In terms of management, our results show that it is crucial that farmers protect their livestock from predators, even on farms where wild prey are abundant because of jackals' preference for sheep and goats over similar‐sized wild mammals. © 2017 The Wildlife Society.
The black‐backed jackal Canis mesomelas, henceforth jackal, has re‐emerged as a threat to South African sheep farmers. This sparked contestation between farmers and conservationists over the reasons for their return and the relative merits of lethal and non‐lethal approaches to protecting livestock. Three separate reviews of the scientific literature converged on the same broad conclusion that lethal control of jackals is probably ineffective, but that more scientific research is necessary, especially on farms. We draw on historic evidence and recent research across a range of disciplines to show that jackal diet and behaviour varies regionally and alter in response to changing threats and opportunities. More data will not support generalisable conclusions and have already been eclipsed by broad‐scale changes in the political, economic and ecological landscapes of South Africa. Reduced government support for farmers, rising production costs and falling product prices, together with an increasing frequency of droughts, have conspired to weaken the collective management hand of farmers and, ultimately, contributed to a decline in the sheep farming industry. Many sheep farmers have sold their land to non‐commercial ‘lifestyle' farmers or expanding nature reserves, creating a growing network of safer spaces for jackals to persist, from which their offspring can sink into neighbouring commercial farmland. When these landscape‐level changes are combined with the wide phenotypic plasticity and catholic diet of the jackal, we should be neither surprised at their resurgence nor contented with suggestions that more ecological research is likely to facilitate any sustainable solutions.
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