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19 results for “social carnivore”
Fig. 2 in Factors influencing Dipylidium sp. infection in a free-ranging social carnivore, the spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta)
Fig. 2. The effect of prey abundance in spotted hyaena clan territories on the proportion of juveniles infected with Dipylidium sp.
Fig. 1 in Factors influencing Dipylidium sp. infection in a free-ranging social carnivore, the spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta)
Fig. 1. (a) A spotted hyaena communal den. (b) Dipylidium sp. egg capsule obtained from a gravid proglottid collected from a spotted hyaena faeces. (c) Spotted hyaena faeces with Dipylidium proglottids present on the surface.
Infanticide by females is a leading source of juvenile mortality in a large social carnivore
Social animals benefit from their group-mates, so why do they sometimes kill each other's offspring? Using 30 years of data from multiple groups of wild spotted hyenas, we address three critical aims for understanding infanticide in any species: (1) quantify the contribution of infanticide to overall mortality (2) describe the circumstances under which infanticide occurs and (3) evaluate hypotheses about the evolution of infanticide. We find that, although observed only rarely, infanticide is in fact a leading source of juvenile mortality. Infanticide accounted for 24% of juvenile mortality, and 1 in 10 hyenas born in our population perished due to infanticide. In all observed cases of infanticide, killers were adult females, but victims could be of both sexes. Of four hypotheses regarding the evolution of infanticide, we found the most support for the hypothesis that infanticide in spotted hyenas reflects competition over social status among matrilines.
Infanticide by females is a leading source of juvenile mortality in a large social carnivore
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Data from: When to stay and when to leave? Proximate causes of dispersal in an endangered social carnivore
<p>1. Reliable estimates of birth, death, emigration, and immigration rates are fundamental to understanding and predicting the dynamics of wild populations and, consequently, inform appropriate management actions. However, when individuals disappear from a focal population, inference on their fate is often challenging.</p> <p><br> 2. Here we used 30 years of individual-based mark-recapture data from a population of free-ranging African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Botswana and a suite of individual, social, and environmental predictors to investigate factors affecting the decision to emigrate from the pack. We subsequently used this information to assign an emigration probability to those individuals that were no longer sighted within their pack (i.e. missing individuals).</p> <p>3. Natal dispersal (i.e. emigration from the natal pack) showed seasonal patterns with female dispersal peaking prior to the mating season and male dispersal peaking at the beginning of the wet season. For both sexes, natal dispersal rate increased in the absence of unrelated individuals of the opposite sex in the pack. Male natal dispersal decreased with increasing number of pups in the pack and increased in larger packs. Female natal dispersal decreased with increasing number of pups in larger packs, but increased with increasing number of pups in smaller packs. Individuals of both sexes were less likely to exhibit secondary dispersal (i.e. emigration from a pack other than the natal pack) if they were dominant and if many pups were present in the pack.</p> <p>4. Our models predicted that 18% and 25% of missing females and males, respectively, had likely dispersed from the natal pack, rather than having died. A misclassification of this order of magnitude between dispersal and mortality can have far-reaching consequences in the evaluation and prediction of population dynamics and persistence, and potentially mislead conservation actions.</p> <p>5. Our study showed that the decision to disperse is context-dependent and that the effect of individual, social, and environmental predictors differs between males and females and between natal and secondary dispersal related to different direct and indirect fitness consequences. Furthermore, we demonstrated how a thorough understanding of the proximate causes of dispersal can be used to assign a dispersal probability to missing individuals. Knowledge of causes of dispersal can then be used within an integrated framework to more reliably estimate mortality rates.</p>
Data from: Parasite infections in a social carnivore: evidence of their fitness consequences and factors modulating infection load
There are substantial individual differences in parasite composition and infection load in wildlife populations. Few studies have investigated the factors shaping this heterogeneity in large wild mammals or the impact of parasite infections on Darwinian fitness, particularly in juveniles. A host's parasite composition and infection load can be shaped by factors that determine contact with infective parasite stages and those that determine the host's resistance to infection, such as abiotic and social environmental factors, and age. Host-parasite interactions and synergies between co-infecting parasites may also be important. We test predictions derived from these different processes to investigate factors shaping infection loads (faecal egg/oocyte load) of two energetically costly gastrointestinal parasites: the hookworm Ancylostoma and the intracellular Cystoisospora, in juvenile spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in the Serengeti National Park, in Tanzania. We also assess whether parasite infections curtail survival to adulthood and longevity. Ancylostoma and Cystoisospora infection loads declined as the number of adult clan members increased, a result consistent with an encounter-reduction effect whereby adults reduced encounters between juveniles and infective larvae, but were not affected by the number of juveniles in a clan. Infection loads decreased with age, possibly because active immune responses to infection improved with age. Differences in parasite load between clans possibly indicate variation in abiotic environmental factors between clan den sites. The survival of juveniles (< 365 days old) to adulthood decreased with Ancylostoma load, increased with age and was modulated by maternal social status. High-ranking individuals with low Ancylostoma loads had a higher survivorship during the first four years of life than high-ranking individuals with high Ancylostoma loads. These findings suggest that high infection loads with energetically costly parasites such as hookworms during early life can have negative fitness consequences.
Data from: Group density, disease, and season shape territory size and overlap of social carnivores
<p>1. The spatial organization of a population can influence the spread of information, behaviour, and pathogens. Territory size and territory overlap, components of spatial organization, provide key information as these metrics may be indicators of habitat quality, resource dispersion, contact rates, and environmental risk (e.g., indirectly transmitted pathogens). Furthermore, sociality and behaviour can also shape space use, and subsequently, how space use and habitat quality together impact demography.</p> <p>2. Our study aims to identify factors shaping the spatial organization of wildlife populations and assess the impact of epizootics on space use. We also use network analysis to describe spatial organization and connectivity of social groups.</p> <p>3. Here, we assessed the seasonal spatial organization of Serengeti lions and Yellowstone wolves at the group level. We examine the factors predicting mean territory size and mean territory overlap for each population using generalized additive models. We further explore the mechanisms by which disease perturbations could cause changes in spatial organization.</p> <p>4. We demonstrate that lions and wolves were similar in that group-level factors, such as number of groups, shaped spatial organization more than population-level factors, such as population density. Factors shaping territory size were slightly different than factors shaping territory overlap; for example, wolf pack size was an important predictor of territory overlap, but not territory size. Lion spatial networks were more highly connected, while wolf spatial networks varied seasonally. We found that resource dispersion may be more important for driving territory size and overlap for wolves than for lions. Additionally, canine distemper epizootics may alter lion spatial organization, highlighting the importance of including behavioural and movement ecology in studies of pathogen transmission dynamics.</p> <p>5. We provide insight about when we might expect to observe the impacts of resource dispersion, disease perturbations, and other ecological factors on spatial organization. Our work highlights the importance of monitoring and managing social carnivore populations at the group level. Future research should elucidate the complex relationships between demographics, social and spatial structure, abiotic and biotic conditions, and pathogen infections. </p>
Social environment shapes female settlement decisions in a solitary carnivore
<p>How and where a female selects an area to settle and breed is of central importance in dispersal and population ecology as it governs range expansion and gene flow. Social structure and organization have been shown to influence settlement decisions, but its importance in settlement of large, solitary mammals is largely unknown. We investigate how the identity of overlapping conspecifics on the landscape, acquired during the maternal care period, influences selection of settlement home ranges in a non-territorial, solitary mammal using location data of 56 female brown bears (Ursus arctos). We used a resource selection function to determine whether females' settlement behavior was influenced by presence of their mother, related females, familiar females, and female population density. Hunting may remove mothers and result in socio-spatial changes prior to settlement. We compared overlap between settling females and their mother's concurrent or most recent home ranges to examine the settling female's response to the absence or presence of her mother on the landscape. We found that females selected settlement home ranges that overlapped their mother's home range, familiar females, i.e. those they had previously overlapped with, and areas with higher density than their natal ranges. However, they did not select areas overlapping related females. We also found that when mothers were removed from the landscape, female offspring selected settlement home ranges with greater overlap of their mother's range, compared with mothers who were alive. Our results suggest that females are acquiring and using information about their social environment when making settlement decisions</p>
Data from: Effects of breeder turnover and harvest on group composition and recruitment in a social carnivore
1. Breeder turnover can influence population growth in social carnivores through changes to group size, composition, and recruitment. 2. Studies that possess detailed group composition data that can provide insights about the effects of breeder turnover on groups have generally been conducted on species that are not subject to recurrent annual human harvest. We wanted to know how breeder turnover affects group composition and how harvest, in turn, affects breeder turnover in cooperatively breeding gray wolves (Canis lupus Linnaeus 1758). 3. We used noninvasive genetic sampling at wolf rendezvous sites to construct pedigrees and estimate recruitment in groups of wolves before and after harvest in Idaho, USA. 4. Turnover of breeding females increased polygamy and potential recruits per group by providing breeding opportunities for subordinates although resultant group size was unaffected one year after the turnover. Breeder turnover had no effect on the number of nonbreeding helpers per group. After breeding male turnover, fewer female pups were recruited in the new males' litters. Harvest had no effect on the frequency of breeder turnover. 5. We found that breeder turnover led to shifts in the reproductive hierarchies within groups and the resulting changes to group composition were quite variable and depended on the sex of the breeder lost. We hypothesize that nonbreeding females direct help away from non-kin female pups to preserve future breeding opportunities for themselves. Breeder turnover had marked effects on the breeding opportunities of subordinates and the number and sex ratios of subsequent litters of pups. Seemingly subtle changes to groups, such as the loss of 1 individual, can greatly affect group composition, genetic content, and short-term population growth when the individual lost is a breeder.
Data from: Harvest is associated with the disruption of social and fine-scale genetic structure among matrilines of a solitary large carnivore
<p>Harvest can disrupt wildlife populations by removing adults with naturally high survival. This can reshape sociospatial structure, genetic composition, fitness, and potentially affect evolution. Genetic tools can detect changes in local, fine-scale genetic structure (FGS) and assess the interplay between harvest-caused social and FGS in populations. We used data on 1,614 brown bears, <i>Ursus arctos</i>, genotyped with 16 microsatellites, to investigate whether harvest intensity (mean low: 0.13 from 1990-2005, mean high: 0.28 from 2006-2011) caused changes in FGS among matrilines (8 matrilines; 109 females ≥ 4 years of age), sex-specific survival and putative dispersal distances, female spatial genetic autocorrelation, matriline persistence, and male mating patterns. Increased harvest decreased FGS of matrilines. Female dispersal distances decreased and male reproductive success was redistributed more evenly. Adult males had lower survival during high harvest, suggesting that higher male turnover caused this redistribution and helped explain decreased structure among matrilines, despite shorter female dispersal distances. Adult female survival and survival probability of both mother and daughter were lower during high harvest, indicating that matriline persistence was also lower. Our findings indicate a crucial role of regulated harvest in shaping populations, decreasing differences among 'groups', even for solitary-living species, and potentially altering the evolutionary trajectory of wild populations.</p>
Data from: Parasite infections in a social carnivore: evidence of their fitness consequences and factors modulating infection load
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Social media reports of urban carnivores in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles county
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Social environment shapes female settlement decisions in a solitary carnivore
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Data from: Harvest is associated with the disruption of social and fine-scale genetic structure among matrilines of a solitary large carnivore
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Data from: Effects of breeder turnover and harvest on group composition and recruitment in a social carnivore
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Data from: Group density, disease, and season shape territory size and overlap of social carnivores
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Data from: When to stay and when to leave? Proximate causes of dispersal in an endangered social carnivore
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Data from: Pair bonds, reproductive success and rise of alternate mating strategies in a social carnivore.
Monogamy is commonly observed across a wide variety of species and taxa and arises when young are altricial, parental investment in young is high, and mate monopolization is generally not possible. In such species, pairs may bond for multiple breeding seasons while successfully rearing young. Individuals, however, may attempt to bypass the dominant mating strategy particularly when breeding opportunities are limited. Currently, we do not know how pair bond duration affects the efficacy of alternative mating strategies in populations with a monogamous mating system. Additionally, inferences about pair bond effects on reproductive success (i.e., both clutch size and recruitment) are largely limited to long-lived birds and little is known about effects on mammalian cooperative breeders. I used genetic sampling and pedigrees to examine the effects of pair bond duration on reproductive success (i.e., litter size, recruitment) and mating strategies in a population of gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Idaho USA. There was a positive, marginally significant relationship between pair bond duration and apparent survival of offspring. Increased pair bond duration was also associated with a dampening in the prevalence of other alternative mating strategies such as sneaker males and polygamy. The selective advantage of alternative mating strategies are a combination of population, group (for applicable species), individual, and social influences such as pair bonds. The distribution of pair bonds in a monogamous population affects the selective advantage, and hence frequency, of various mating strategies observed.
Data from: Pair bonds, reproductive success and rise of alternate mating strategies in a social carnivore.
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OpenNeuro
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