Cargando…
A novel record of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, Malawi
Most African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) populations are in decline and, due to habitat fragmentation and conflict rates in areas of higher anthropogenic land‐use, are primarily restricted to protected areas. As a species that occurs at low densities, with a strict reproductive social structure, wild d...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10618630/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37920774 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10671 |
_version_ | 1785129818812055552 |
---|---|
author | Sievert, Olivia Hammer, Matthias Comley, Eleanor Hintz, Benjamin Mgoola, William O. Davis, Robert S. |
author_facet | Sievert, Olivia Hammer, Matthias Comley, Eleanor Hintz, Benjamin Mgoola, William O. Davis, Robert S. |
author_sort | Sievert, Olivia |
collection | PubMed |
description | Most African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) populations are in decline and, due to habitat fragmentation and conflict rates in areas of higher anthropogenic land‐use, are primarily restricted to protected areas. As a species that occurs at low densities, with a strict reproductive social structure, wild dogs rely on long‐range dispersal to facilitate colonization, reproduction, and pack formation. In Malawi, large carnivores have been subject to widespread population decline and several protected areas have a reduced large carnivore guild, including the loss of resident wild dog populations. Here, during a biodiversity monitoring camera trap survey, we captured a novel record of wild dogs in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve (Vwaza), Malawi. The 11 photographic captures of potentially three individual wild dogs represent the first documented evidence of the species in Vwaza and the first record since an unconfirmed report in 2011. We hypothesize that this group of wild dogs moved into Vwaza through the Malawi‐Zambia Transfrontier Conservation Area (MZTFCA), with the MZTFCA linking protected areas in Malawi with the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. The evidence provided here, and similar documentation in Kasungu National Park, Malawi, show that large carnivores can potentially move through the MZTFCA into protected areas in Malawi. We argue that the MZTFCA provides an important dispersal corridor that could help facilitate the recolonization of wild dogs, and other large carnivores, in Malawian protected areas. However, further research is needed to assess the permeability and status of the MZTFCA corridor into Malawi. We show that camera traps can be useful to document novel records of rare species and can be used to inform conservation management planning. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10618630 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-106186302023-11-02 A novel record of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, Malawi Sievert, Olivia Hammer, Matthias Comley, Eleanor Hintz, Benjamin Mgoola, William O. Davis, Robert S. Ecol Evol Nature Notes Most African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) populations are in decline and, due to habitat fragmentation and conflict rates in areas of higher anthropogenic land‐use, are primarily restricted to protected areas. As a species that occurs at low densities, with a strict reproductive social structure, wild dogs rely on long‐range dispersal to facilitate colonization, reproduction, and pack formation. In Malawi, large carnivores have been subject to widespread population decline and several protected areas have a reduced large carnivore guild, including the loss of resident wild dog populations. Here, during a biodiversity monitoring camera trap survey, we captured a novel record of wild dogs in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve (Vwaza), Malawi. The 11 photographic captures of potentially three individual wild dogs represent the first documented evidence of the species in Vwaza and the first record since an unconfirmed report in 2011. We hypothesize that this group of wild dogs moved into Vwaza through the Malawi‐Zambia Transfrontier Conservation Area (MZTFCA), with the MZTFCA linking protected areas in Malawi with the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. The evidence provided here, and similar documentation in Kasungu National Park, Malawi, show that large carnivores can potentially move through the MZTFCA into protected areas in Malawi. We argue that the MZTFCA provides an important dispersal corridor that could help facilitate the recolonization of wild dogs, and other large carnivores, in Malawian protected areas. However, further research is needed to assess the permeability and status of the MZTFCA corridor into Malawi. We show that camera traps can be useful to document novel records of rare species and can be used to inform conservation management planning. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2023-10-31 /pmc/articles/PMC10618630/ /pubmed/37920774 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10671 Text en © 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Nature Notes Sievert, Olivia Hammer, Matthias Comley, Eleanor Hintz, Benjamin Mgoola, William O. Davis, Robert S. A novel record of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, Malawi |
title | A novel record of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, Malawi |
title_full | A novel record of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, Malawi |
title_fullStr | A novel record of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, Malawi |
title_full_unstemmed | A novel record of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, Malawi |
title_short | A novel record of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve, Malawi |
title_sort | novel record of african wild dogs (lycaon pictus) in vwaza marsh wildlife reserve, malawi |
topic | Nature Notes |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10618630/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37920774 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10671 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT sievertolivia anovelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT hammermatthias anovelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT comleyeleanor anovelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT hintzbenjamin anovelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT mgoolawilliamo anovelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT davisroberts anovelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT sievertolivia novelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT hammermatthias novelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT comleyeleanor novelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT hintzbenjamin novelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT mgoolawilliamo novelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi AT davisroberts novelrecordofafricanwilddogslycaonpictusinvwazamarshwildlifereservemalawi |