Attitudes and tolerance of private landowners shape the African wild dog conservation landscape in the greater Kruger National Park

Parker, Daniel M.; Watermeyer, Jessica; Davies‐Mostert, Harriet T.; Beverley, Grant; Marnewick, Kelly

doi:10.3354/esr00905

“…Due to the wide-ranging behaviour of African wild dog [ 16 ] and their long-distance movements within the KNP [ 40 ], as well as gaps in the border fences [ 59 ], it is likely that African wild dog individuals may frequently use unprotected areas adjacent to the KNP [ 61 ]. However, recent research by Parker et al [ 62 ] indicates that the African wild dog packs on the western boundary of the KNP are buffered by contiguous surrounding nature reserves (e.g. the APNR).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape correlates of space use in the critically endangered African wild dog Lycaon pictus

Pretorius

¹

,

Seoraj-Pillai

²

,

Pillay

³

2019

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Human-carnivore conflict can threaten human life and livelihoods, leading to retaliation that negatively affects carnivore conservation. The endangered African wild dog Lycaon pictus is prone to human-carnivore conflict. Therefore, it is imperative to understand which landscape features are associated with African wild dog occurrence since selection or avoidance of these features could predict the levels of conflict. We investigated resource selection in the African wild dog in relation to four anthropogenic landscape features (livestock density, agriculture, roads and human land use) within the landscape that may pose a mortality risk, as well as one natural feature (nature reserves). We compared spatio-temporal space use patterns of four African wild dog packs in north-eastern South Africa. Data were collected from one collared individual per pack. These packs constituted approximately 10% of the total remaining African wild dog population in South Africa. Two packs occurred outside of the Kruger National Park and had access to multiple areas with farmland and other anthropogenic features, whereas the remaining two packs mainly occurred within the boundaries of the Kruger National Park but made occasional forays outside of park boundaries. Utilising Resource Selection Functions and GIS analyses, we found that agricultural landscape features, roads and nature reserves were important predictors of African wild dog occurrence for all four packs. In addition to potential conflict with farmers, high odds of occurrence on roads with fast-moving traffic and road mortality was highlighted as a concern for three of the packs. While farms and areas that house livestock were readily available, pack presence occurred in areas with few farms and low livestock densities, pointing to avoidance of areas where human-carnivore conflict and resulting mortality could occur. Our study highlights potential threats to the persistence of the African wild dog, which can be used to inform future conservation efforts of the species.

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“…Furthermore, commands and configurations can be sent to the Sigfox tracking tags via downlink messages, thus enabling a two-way data stream. Near real-time tracking information enables not only the study of an entire new set of free-roaming animals, but also a new set of management responses, as demonstrated in same-hour responses by veterinarians to snaring events, reducing human-caused mortality among critically endangered African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Kruger National Park [24,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-species evaluation of digital wildlife monitoring using the Sigfox IoT network

Wild

¹

,

Schalkwyk

²

,

Viljoen

³

et al. 2023

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Bio-telemetry from small tags attached to animals is one of the principal methods for studying the ecology and behaviour of wildlife. The field has constantly evolved over the last 80 years as technological improvement enabled a diversity of sensors to be integrated into the tags (e.g., GPS, accelerometers, etc.). However, retrieving data from tags on free-ranging animals remains a challenge since satellite and GSM networks are relatively expensive and or power hungry. Recently a new class of low-power communication networks have been developed and deployed worldwide to connect the internet of things (IoT). Here, we evaluated one of these, the Sigfox IoT network, for the potential as a real-time multi-sensor data retrieval and tag commanding system for studying fauna across a diversity of species and ecosystems. We tracked 312 individuals across 30 species (from 25 g bats to 3 t elephants) with seven different device concepts, resulting in more than 177,742 successful transmissions. We found a maximum line of sight communication distance of 280 km (on a flying cape vulture [Gyps coprotheres]), which sets a new documented record for animal-borne digital data transmission using terrestrial infrastructure. The average transmission success rate amounted to 68.3% (SD 22.1) on flying species and 54.1% (SD 27.4) on terrestrial species. In addition to GPS data, we also collected and transmitted data products from accelerometers, barometers, and thermometers. Further, we assessed the performance of Sigfox Atlas Native, a low-power method for positional estimates based on radio signal strengths and found a median accuracy of 12.89 km (MAD 5.17) on animals. We found that robust real-time communication (median message delay of 1.49 s), the extremely small size of the tags (starting at 1.28 g without GPS), and the low power demands (as low as 5.8 µAh per transmitted byte) unlock new possibilities for ecological data collection and global animal observation.

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“…Furthermore, commands and con gurations can be sent to the Sigfox tracking tags via downlink messages, thus enabling a two-way data stream. Near real-time tracking information enables not only the study of an entire new set of free-roaming animals, but also a new set of management responses, as demonstrated in same-hour responses by veterinarians to snaring events, reducing human-caused mortality among critically endangered African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Kruger National Park [24,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multi-species evaluation of digital wildlife monitoring using the Sigfox IoT network

Wild

¹

,

Schalkwyk²,

Viljoen

³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bio-telemetry from small tags attached to animals is one of the principal methods for studying the ecology and behaviour of wildlife. The field has constantly evolved over the last 80 years as technological improvement enabled a diversity of sensors to be integrated into the tags (e.g., GPS, accelerometers, etc.). However, retrieving data from tags on free-ranging animals remains a challenge since satellite and GSM networks are relatively expensive and or power hungry. Recently a new class of low-power communication networks have been developed and deployed worldwide to connect the internet of things (IoT). Here, we evaluated one of these, the Sigfox IoT network, for the potential as a real-time multi-sensor data retrieval and tag commanding system for studying fauna across a diversity of species and ecosystems. We tracked 312 individuals across 30 species (from 25 g bats to 3 t elephants) with seven different device concepts, resulting in more than 177,742 successful transmissions. We found a maximum line of sight communication distance of 280 km (on a flying cape vulture [Gyps coprotheres]), which sets a new documented record for animal-borne digital data transmission using terrestrial infrastructure. The average transmission success rate amounted to 68.3% (SD 22.1) on flying species and 54.1% (SD 27.4) on terrestrial species. In addition to GPS data, we also collected and transmitted data products from accelerometers, barometers, and thermometers. Further, we assessed the performance of Sigfox Atlas Native, a low-power method for positional estimates based on radio signal strengths and found a median accuracy of 12.89 km (MAD 5.17) on animals. We found that robust real-time communication (median message delay of 1.49 s), the extremely small size of the tags (starting at 1.28 g without GPS), and the low power demands (as low as 5.8 µAh per transmitted byte) unlock new possibilities for ecological data collection and global animal observation.

show abstract

Attitudes and tolerance of private landowners shape the African wild dog conservation landscape in the greater Kruger National Park

Cited by 4 publications

References 33 publications

Landscape correlates of space use in the critically endangered African wild dog Lycaon pictus

Landscape correlates of space use in the critically endangered African wild dog Lycaon pictus

A multi-species evaluation of digital wildlife monitoring using the Sigfox IoT network

A multi-species evaluation of digital wildlife monitoring using the Sigfox IoT network

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