Seasonal movements and habitat use of African buffalo in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania

Abstract

Background: Assessing wildlife movements and habitat use is important for species conservation and management and can be informative for understanding population dynamics. The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) population of Ruaha National Park, Tanzania has been declining, and little was known about the movement, habitat selection, and space use of the population, which is important for understanding possible reasons behind the decline. A total of 12 African buffalo cows from four different herds were collared with satellite transmitters. Movements were assessed over 2 years from 11 animals. Results:The space use of the individual collared buffaloes as an approximation of the 95% home range size estimated using Brownian bridge models, ranged from 73 to 601 km 2 . The estimated home ranges were larger in the wet season than in the dry season. With the exception of one buffalo all collared animals completed a wet season migration of varying distances. A consistent pattern of seasonal movement was observed with one herd, whereas the other herds did not behave the same way in the two wet seasons that they were tracked. Herd splitting and herd switching occurred on multiple occasions. Buffaloes strongly associated with habitats near the Great Ruaha River in the dry season and had little association to permanent water sources in the wet season. Daily movements averaged 4.6 km (standard deviation, SD = 2.6 km), with the longest distances traveled during November (mean 6.9 km, SD = 3.6 km) at the end of the dry season and beginning of the wet season. The shortest daily distances traveled occurred in the wet season in April-June (mean 3.6 km, SD = 1.6-1.8 km). Conclusion:The Great Ruaha River has experienced significant drying in the last decades due to water diversions upstream, which likely has reduced the suitable range for buffaloes. The loss of dry season habitat due to water scarcity has likely contributed to the population decline of the Ruaha buffaloes.

Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in Multi-Host Wildlife Systems: Implications for Black (Diceros bicornis) and White (Ceratotherium simum) Rhinoceros

“…Overall, the wide ranges traversed by buffaloes on a seasonal basis and the potential for contamination of browse by infected kudu, coupled with evidence supporting their integral roles as maintenance hosts for bTB, support the potential for M. bovis transmission to white and black rhinoceros (115,129). While overlapping vegetation preference, mud wallow usage, and ranges may be important infection predictors, indirect transmission of M. bovis from maintenance hosts may not be the only risk factor for infection of rhinoceros.…”

“…African buffaloes are socially organized into herds, which can be as large as 1,000 individuals ( 112 , 114 ). A study that investigated seasonal movements and habitat use by these animals revealed home ranges varying between 73 and 601 km 2 ( 115 ). Due to the size of their home ranges, interactions with other species (including rhinoceros), particularly at aggregation points such as water sources or shared feeding areas, are likely to occur at a relatively regular frequency.…”

“…Investigation of preferred vegetation and habitat of buffaloes showed the strongest association with open to closed herbaceous vegetation on temporarily flooded land, closed shrubs, open shrubs or with 40–65% crown cover ( 115 ). The white rhinoceros, like the African buffalo, is a grazing species ( 119 , 120 ).…”

Hippopotamus movements structure the spatiotemporal dynamics of an active anthrax outbreak

“…If the infectious reservoir was terrestrially based, mortalities would likely have also occurred in other susceptible grazing species (e.g., African buffalo, Syncerus caffer) that have a high degree of habitat overlap with H. amphibius along the Great Ruaha River during the dry season (for buffalo space use, see Roug et al 2020). However, aerial surveys did not locate buffalo carcasses or the carcasses of other wildlife species (apart from the single giraffe and elephant carcass mentioned earlier).…”

Do anthropogenic sources of food increase livestock predation in the area surrounding Ruaha National Park?

“…The climate is arid to semi-arid with an annual rainfall of 500-800 mm. Precipitation mostly occurs in the wet season (November-April) and rarely in the dry season (Stommel et al 2016, Roug et al 2020. Livestock predators in the area include spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), silver-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) (Dickman et al 2014).…”