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Cattle select African savanna termite mound patches less when sharing habitat with wild herbivores

African savanna termite mounds function as nutrient‐rich foraging hotspots for different herbivore species, but little is known about their effects on the interaction between domestic and wild herbivores. Understanding such effects is important for better management of these herbivore guilds in land...

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Autores principales: Odadi, Wilfred O., Charles, Grace K., Young, Truman P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6157688/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30271567
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4452
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author Odadi, Wilfred O.
Charles, Grace K.
Young, Truman P.
author_facet Odadi, Wilfred O.
Charles, Grace K.
Young, Truman P.
author_sort Odadi, Wilfred O.
collection PubMed
description African savanna termite mounds function as nutrient‐rich foraging hotspots for different herbivore species, but little is known about their effects on the interaction between domestic and wild herbivores. Understanding such effects is important for better management of these herbivore guilds in landscapes where they share habitats. Working in a central Kenyan savanna ecosystem, we compared selection of termite mound patches by cattle between areas cattle accessed exclusively and areas they shared with wild herbivores. Termite mound selection index was significantly lower in the shared areas than in areas cattle accessed exclusively. Furthermore, cattle used termite mounds in proportion to their availability when they were the only herbivores present, but used them less than their availability when they shared foraging areas with wild herbivores. These patterns were associated with reduced herbage cover on termite mounds in the shared foraging areas, partly indicating that cattle and wild herbivores compete for termite mound forage. However, reduced selection of termite mound patches was also reinforced by higher leafiness of Brachiaria lachnantha (the principal cattle diet forage species) off termite mounds in shared than in unshared areas. Taken together, these findings suggest that during wet periods, cattle can overcome competition for termite mounds by taking advantage of wildlife‐mediated increased forage leafiness in the matrix surrounding termite mounds. However, this advantage is likely to dissipate during dry periods when forage conditions deteriorate across the landscape and the importance of termite mounds as nutrient hotspots increases for both cattle and wild herbivores. Therefore, we suggest that those managing for both livestock production and wildlife conservation in such savanna landscapes should adopt grazing strategies that could lessen competition for forage on termite mounds, such as strategically decreasing stock numbers during dry periods.
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spelling pubmed-61576882018-09-29 Cattle select African savanna termite mound patches less when sharing habitat with wild herbivores Odadi, Wilfred O. Charles, Grace K. Young, Truman P. Ecol Evol Original Research African savanna termite mounds function as nutrient‐rich foraging hotspots for different herbivore species, but little is known about their effects on the interaction between domestic and wild herbivores. Understanding such effects is important for better management of these herbivore guilds in landscapes where they share habitats. Working in a central Kenyan savanna ecosystem, we compared selection of termite mound patches by cattle between areas cattle accessed exclusively and areas they shared with wild herbivores. Termite mound selection index was significantly lower in the shared areas than in areas cattle accessed exclusively. Furthermore, cattle used termite mounds in proportion to their availability when they were the only herbivores present, but used them less than their availability when they shared foraging areas with wild herbivores. These patterns were associated with reduced herbage cover on termite mounds in the shared foraging areas, partly indicating that cattle and wild herbivores compete for termite mound forage. However, reduced selection of termite mound patches was also reinforced by higher leafiness of Brachiaria lachnantha (the principal cattle diet forage species) off termite mounds in shared than in unshared areas. Taken together, these findings suggest that during wet periods, cattle can overcome competition for termite mounds by taking advantage of wildlife‐mediated increased forage leafiness in the matrix surrounding termite mounds. However, this advantage is likely to dissipate during dry periods when forage conditions deteriorate across the landscape and the importance of termite mounds as nutrient hotspots increases for both cattle and wild herbivores. Therefore, we suggest that those managing for both livestock production and wildlife conservation in such savanna landscapes should adopt grazing strategies that could lessen competition for forage on termite mounds, such as strategically decreasing stock numbers during dry periods. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2018-08-19 /pmc/articles/PMC6157688/ /pubmed/30271567 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4452 Text en © 2018 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Odadi, Wilfred O.
Charles, Grace K.
Young, Truman P.
Cattle select African savanna termite mound patches less when sharing habitat with wild herbivores
title Cattle select African savanna termite mound patches less when sharing habitat with wild herbivores
title_full Cattle select African savanna termite mound patches less when sharing habitat with wild herbivores
title_fullStr Cattle select African savanna termite mound patches less when sharing habitat with wild herbivores
title_full_unstemmed Cattle select African savanna termite mound patches less when sharing habitat with wild herbivores
title_short Cattle select African savanna termite mound patches less when sharing habitat with wild herbivores
title_sort cattle select african savanna termite mound patches less when sharing habitat with wild herbivores
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6157688/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30271567
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4452
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