Landscape Level Effects of Lion Presence (Panthera leo) on Two Contrasting Prey Species

Chizzola, Maddalena; Belton, Lydia E.; Ganswindt, André; Greco, Ilaria; Hall, Grant; Swanepoel, Lourens H.; Dalerum, Fredrik

doi:10.3389/fevo.2018.00191

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 78 publications

(123 reference statements)

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“…These results agree with other recent findings suggesting that lions may not necessarily impose the large effects of sympatric predators [21,23,32,58], although such effects have been observed to occur [24]. Hence, despite strong claims for the ecological significance of apex predators [59], we argue that our study adds to a mounting body of literature suggesting that sweeping, landscape level effects of apex predators, particularly those extending beyond consumptive effects on prey populations, may not be as strong or common as previously thought [31,32,[60][61][62]. Instead, predator effects on sympatric species appear to be highly context dependent, for both sympatric predators and prey [63,64].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…The area is characterised by nutrient-poor soils with rich patches, cliffs and deep valleys [28], and the vegetation is classed as Waterberg Mountain Bushveld [29]. The two reserves are situated less than 50 km apart and have similar sizes (Lapalala 360 km 2 ; Welgevonden 375 km 2 ), topography, vegetation and fauna [30][31][32]. Both reserves are privately owned.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Facilitation or Competition? Effects of Lions on Brown Hyaenas and Leopards

et al. 2020

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Intra-guild interactions related to facilitation and competition can be strong forces structuring ecological communities and have been suggested as particularly prominent for large carnivores. The African lion (Panthera leo) is generally thought to be a dominant predator where it occurs and can be expected to have broad effects on sympatric carnivore communities. We used data from two small game reserves in northern South Africa to relate the presence of African lions to abundance, habitat use, diet, and prey selection of two sympatric large carnivores, brown hyaenas (Parahyaena brunnea) and leopards (Panthera pardus). Our results offered some support for the facilitative effects of lions on brown hyaenas, and competitive effects on leopards. However, differences between populations living without and with lions were restricted to broad diet composition and appear not to have permeated into differences in either prey selection, abundance or habitat use. Therefore, we suggest that the potential effects of lions on the predator–prey interactions of sympatric predators may have been context dependent or absent, and subsequently argue that lions may not necessarily influence the predator–prey dynamics in the landscapes they live in beyond those caused by their own predatory behaviour.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Facilitation or Competition? Effects of Lions on Brown Hyaenas and Leopards

et al. 2020

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“…These observations also highlight that increased large carnivore densities may not necessarily lead to an increased number of carnivore attacks, but that the number of attacks could also be regulated by other factors. Such context dependence would agree with recent suggestions of context dependencies also in the secondary ecological effects of predation risk, which has been suggested to depend on various factors such as resource availability and the immediate exposure to predation risk exhibited by individual prey at any given time (Middleton et al, 2013;Périquet et al, 2017;Chizzola et al, 2018). The observed inconsistencies included both positive and negative relationships between carnivore densities and number of damages, as well as interaction effects between carnivore and livestock or dog densities.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Relationships Between Livestock Damages and Large Carnivore Densities in Sweden

2020

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Promoting coexistence between humans and their physical and ecological environment, including wildlife, has been given an increased importance due to a recent shift of society to become environmentally sustainable. However, humans and large carnivores have been in conflict throughout history. One of the most prominent reasons for this conflict is damages to livestock and domestic animals. Population reduction or even local eradication has often been used as a damage mitigation strategy. However, number of carnivore damages need to be positively related to carnivore densities for population reduction to be an effective damage limitation tool. Sweden is a country in northern Europe with frequent human-carnivore conflicts, spurred by an intense and polarized public debate. We use a 20-year data set on brown bear (Ursus arctos), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) and wolf (Canis lupus) and their damages in Sweden to evaluate if temporal variation in carnivore densities has caused an equivalent variation in the number of damages to cattle, sheep and domestic dogs, if such relationships differed between the carnivore species and damage types, and if there were geographic scale dependencies in these relationships. We observed contradictory effects of large carnivore densities on damages, which included both positive and negative effects. Differences occurred between carnivore species, damage types, geographic areas, and spatial scales. However, wolf densities appeared to have been positively related to the number of damages more often than bear and lynx densities. Our results highlight that large carnivore damages can be highly context dependent, and that other factors than the size of local or regional carnivore populations may be more important damage determinants. Such an interpretation implies that population reduction may not necessarily be an effective method for limiting large carnivore damages, and highlight that damage mitigation strategies need to be flexible over time and space. We recommend further studies identifying the contexts in which large carnivore densities influence damages to livestock and domestic animals, as well as studies aimed at identifying other factors that may be related to the number of damages.

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“…Limited spatial and temporal measurements suggest that ecologists still cannot address important questions of positive interactions in ecology because we are not reporting work across scales (Jablonski, 2008; McGill, 2010). Negative interactions have seen important progress in this area (McLaughlin and Roughgarden, 1992; Fausch, 1998; Chizzola et al ., 2018; Weiss, 2019), but this topic will be an important future step for freshwaters, especially as spatial and temporal variation relates to stress gradients (He et al ., 2013; Tumolo et al ., 2020). Effects of facilitators on populations and communities is another important topic for future research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering patterns of freshwater positive interactions using meta‐analysis: Identifying the roles of common participants, invasive species and environmental context

et al. 2020

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Positive interactions are sensitive to human activities, necessitating synthetic approaches to elucidate broad patterns and predict future changes if these interactions are altered or lost. General understanding of freshwater positive interactions has been far outpaced by knowledge of these important relationships in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. We conducted a global meta‐analysis to evaluate the magnitude of positive interactions across freshwater habitats. In 340 studies, we found substantial positive effects, with facilitators increasing beneficiaries by, on average, 81% across all taxa and response variables. Mollusks in particular were commonly studied as both facilitators and beneficiaries. Amphibians were one group benefiting the most from positive interactions, yet few studies investigated amphibians. Invasive facilitators had stronger positive effects on beneficiaries than non‐invasive facilitators. We compared positive effects between high‐ and low‐stress conditions and found no difference in the magnitude of benefit in the subset of studies that manipulated stressors. Future areas of research include understudied facilitators and beneficiaries, the stress gradient hypothesis, patterns across space or time and the influence of declining taxa whose elimination would jeopardise fragile positive interaction networks. Freshwater positive interactions occur among a wide range of taxa, influence populations, communities and ecosystem processes and deserve further exploration.

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Landscape Level Effects of Lion Presence (Panthera leo) on Two Contrasting Prey Species

Cited by 15 publications

References 78 publications

Facilitation or Competition? Effects of Lions on Brown Hyaenas and Leopards

Facilitation or Competition? Effects of Lions on Brown Hyaenas and Leopards

Relationships Between Livestock Damages and Large Carnivore Densities in Sweden

Uncovering patterns of freshwater positive interactions using meta‐analysis: Identifying the roles of common participants, invasive species and environmental context

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