Responses of mammalian carnivores to land use in arid savanna rangelands

Summary Shrub encroachment due to heavy grazing has led to dramatic changes in arid savanna landscape structure worldwide. It is considered to be one of the most threatening forms of rangeland degradation altering plant diversity. However, possible impacts of shrub encroachment on species diversity at higher trophic levels remain poorly understood. Additionally, indirect effects, such as changes of trophic interactions, are often ignored when trying to understand changes in biodiversity patterns. In this study, conducted in the southern Kalahari, we explored how the diversity of small carnivores and their prey is affected by shrub encroachment. We analysed the relationships between abundance and diversity of small carnivores, the availability of their main prey groups (coleopterans, termites, grasshoppers, rodents) and the structural diversity of the landscape (shrub, grass and herb cover). Eight hundred track surveys were conducted to determine carnivore abundance on 20 rangeland habitats, which represented a gradient of grazing intensity. Prey availability was surveyed for each study site and related to vegetation cover. Results show a significant impact of shrub cover on abundance and diversity of carnivores and their prey. The diversity of both, carnivores and their prey, showed a hump-shaped response to increasing shrub cover whereas relative carnivore abundance decreased. Availability of prey groups was affected differently by shrub cover increase. Diversity of carnivores was best predicted by shrub cover (R2>0.7, p 0.001 ) indicating the overriding role of habitat structure as compared to prey availability. We conclude that intermediate shrub cover values enrich structural diversity of savanna landscape and in consequence sustain diversity of small carnivores and their prey in arid and semiarid ecosystems.

• Publication year

  2007

• Venue

  Basic and Applied Ecology

• Publication date

  2007-11-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/J.BAAE.2006.09.003
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• THE CONFLICTING IMPORTANCE OF SHRUBBY LANDSCAPE STRUCTURES FOR THE REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF THE YELLOW MONGOOSE (CYNICTIS PENICILLATA)

  2007cited by this paper
• Habitat heterogeneity, species diversity and null models

  2005cited by this paper
• Determinants of woody cover in African savannas

  2005cited by this paper
• GRAZING EFFECTS ON RANGELAND DIVERSITY: A SYNTHESIS OF CONTEMPORARY MODELS

  2005cited by this paper
• SPACE USE, CIRCADIAN ACTIVITY PATTERN, AND MATING SYSTEM OF THE NOCTURNAL TREE RAT THALLOMYS NIGRICAUDA

  2004cited by this paper
• Small mammal abundance in Mediterranean post-fire habitats: a role for predators?

  2004cited by this paper
• Structural and Animal Species Diversity in Arid and Semi-arid Savannas of the Southern Kalahari

  2004cited by this paper
• Finding habitat patches and directional connectivity

  2003cited by this paper
• Patterns of predation in a diverse predator–prey system

  2003cited by this paper
• More on the need to get the basics right: population indices

  2003cited by this paper
• Strong seasonality may attenuate trophic cascades: vertebrate predator exclusion in boreal grassland

  2002cited by this paper
• Relative Sensitivities of Mammalian Carnivores to Habitat Fragmentation

  2002cited by this paper
• Network structure and biodiversity loss in food webs: robustness increases with connectance

  2002cited by this paper
• Dynamics of shrub encroachment in an African savanna: relative influences of fire, herbivory, rainfall and density dependence

  2001cited by this paper
• Ecological Meltdown in Predator-Free Forest Fragments

  2001cited by this paper
• Long-term impacts of livestock herbivory on herbaceous and woody vegetation in semiarid savannas

  2000cited by this paper
• Rodents, plants, and precipitation: spatial and temporal dynamics of consumers and resources

  2000cited by this paper
• Richness, Abundance, and Habitat Relations of Rodents in the Lang Bian Mountains of Southern Viet Nam

  1999cited by this paper
• El Niño–Southern Oscillation–Driven Rainfall Variability and Delayed Density Dependence Cause Rodent Outbreaks in Western South America: Linking Demography and Population Dynamics

  1999cited by this paper
• Mesopredator release and avifaunal extinctions in a fragmented system

  1999cited by this paper
• Ecosystem consequences of wolf behavioural response to climate

  1999cited by this paper
• Reproduction and survival of suricates (Suricata suricatta) in the southern Kalahari

  1999cited by this paper
• Predation, group size and mortality in a cooperative mongoose, Suricata suricatta.

  1999cited by this paper
• Large trees, fertile islands, and birds in arid savanna

  1999cited by this paper
• Interpreting Carnivore Scent-Station Surveys

  1998cited by this paper
• Edge effects and the extinction of populations inside protected areas

  1998cited by this paper
• QUANTIFYING THREATS TO IMPERILED SPECIES IN THE UNITED STATES

  1998cited by this paper
• Effects of small mammals and vertebrate predators on vegetation in the Chilean semiarid zone

  1997cited by this paper
• Analysing Shrub Encroachment in the Southern Kalahari: A Grid-Based Modelling Approach

  1997influential reference
• Game and cattle trampling, and impacts of human dwellings on arthropods at a game park boundary

  1996cited by this paper
• Mechanisms of shrubland expansion: land use, climate or CO2?

  1995cited by this paper
• Effects of Predation Risk on Space Use by Small Mammals: A Field Experiment with a Neotropical Rodent

  1995cited by this paper
• Microtine Rodent Dynamics in Northern Europe: Parameterized Models for the Predator‐Prey Interaction

  1995cited by this paper
• South Africa's arid and semiarid rangelands: Why are they changing and can they be restored?

  1995cited by this paper
• A Conceptual Model of Arid Rangeland Degradation

  1994cited by this paper
• Effects of vertebrate predation on a caviomorph rodent, the degu (Octodon degus), in a semiarid thorn scrub community in Chile

  1993cited by this paper
• A Possible Method for the Rapid Assessment of Biodiversity

  1993cited by this paper
• An African Savanna: Synthesis of the Nylsvley Study.

  1993cited by this paper
• Reproduction in the yellow mongoose revisited

  1992cited by this paper
• Burrow system characteristics of seven small mammal species (Mammalia: Insectivora; Rodentia; Carnivora)

  1992cited by this paper
• Kalahari vegetation: veld condition trends and ecological status of species

  1991cited by this paper
• Communal land use and the 'tragedy of the commons': Some problems and development perspectives with specific reference to semi-arid regions of southern Africa.

  1990cited by this paper
• Shrub layer dynamics under different herbivore densities in an arid savanna, Botswana.

  1990cited by this paper
• Prolonged prey suppression by carnivores — predator-removal experiments

  1989cited by this paper
• Opportunistic management for rangelands not at equilibrium.

  1989cited by this paper
• Mountain hare populations on islands: effects of predation by red fox

  1989cited by this paper
• Biostatistical Analysis (2nd ed.).

  1986cited by this paper
• Insects of Southern Africa

  1985cited by this paper
• Risk of predation and the structure of desert rodent communities

  1984cited by this paper
• Tilman's predicted productivity–diversity relationship shown by desert rodents

  1984cited by this paper
• The mammals of the southern African subregion

  1983cited by this paper
• Factors determining the abundance and distribution of rodents in a shrub-steppe ecosystem: the role of shrubs

  1983cited by this paper
• Structure and Species Composition of Desert Heteromyid Rodent Species Assemblages: Effects of a Simple Habitat Manipulation

  1982cited by this paper
• The effects of sheep stocking level on invertebrate abundance, biomass and energy utilization in a temperate, sown grassland.

  1980cited by this paper
• Biomass and production of large African herbivores in relation to rainfall and primary production

  1976cited by this paper
• The Theory of Island Biogeography

  1969cited by this paper
• Pitfall Trapping as a Method for Studying Populations of Carabidae (Coleoptera)

  1964cited by this paper
• The plant ecology of the Southern Kalahari

  year unknowncited by this paper

• Trophic niche overlap decreases in related mesocarnivore species

  2025cites this paper
• Intermediate Habitat Fragmentation Buffers Droughts: How Individual Energy Dynamics Mediate Mammal Community Response to Stressors

  2025cites this paper
• Mammal responses to habitat degradation induced by cashew expansion in West Africa

  2025cites this paper
• The impacts of land use change on partridge’s population in the Marghazar valley of Swat District, Pakistan

  2024cites this paper
• Balanced Functional Herbivore Composition Stabilizes Tree-Grass Coexistence and Productivity in a Simulated Savanna Rangeland Ecosystem

  2023cites this paper
• Increasing woody cover facilitates competitive exclusion of a savanna specialist

  2021cites this paper
• The value of pastoral ranches for wildlife conservation in the Kalahari

  2021cites this paper
• Population density, habitat preference, and breeding biology of Chukar Partridge (Alectoris chukar) in Malakand division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

  2021cites this paper
• Wildlife-Friendly Livestock Management Promotes Mammalian Biodiversity Recovery on a Semi-Arid Karoo Farm in South Africa

  2021cites this paper
• Spatio‐temporal occurrence and sensitivity to livestock husbandry of Pallas's cat in the Mongolian Altai

  2021cites this paper
• Influence of sea turtle nesting on hunting behavior and movements of jaguars in the dry forest of northwest Costa Rica

  2020cites this paper
• One savanna, many shapes: How bush control affects the woody layer in the southern Kalahari

  2019cites this paper
• Habitat requirements and differential abundance of the culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus) in the high Andes of southern Ecuador

  2019cites this paper
• Estimation of population size and trends for highly mobile species with dynamic spatial distributions

  2018cites this paper
• Ants respond more strongly to grazing than changes in shrub cover

  2018cites this paper
• Soil surface complexity has a larger effect on food exploitation by ants than a change from grassland to shrubland

  2018cites this paper
• Shrub encroachment is not always land degradation: Insights from ground‐dwelling beetle species niches along a shrub cover gradient in a semi‐arid Namibian savanna

  2018cites this paper
• Multi-species occupancy modelling of a carnivore guild in wildlife management areas in the Kalahari

  2018cites this paper
• Shrub encroachment and vertebrate diversity: A global meta‐analysis

  2018cites this paper
• Predation by small mammalian carnivores in rural agro-ecosystems: An undervalued ecosystem service?

  2017cites this paper
• Merging trait-based and individual-based modelling: An animal functional type approach to explore the responses of birds to climatic and land use changes in semi-arid African savannas

  2016cites this paper
• Impact of land use on occupancy and abundance of terrestrial mammals in the Drakensberg Midlands, South Africa

  2015cites this paper
• Influence of Habitat and Anthropogenic Disturbance on the Diversity, Distribution and Abundance of Large Mammals: A Case Study Across Four Adjacent Wildlife Conservation Areas in Laikipia County, Kenya

  2015cites this paper
• Status, conservation, and population genetics of the jaguar (Panthera onca) in Paraguay and the Dry Gran Chaco

  2015cites this paper
• Diet of serval (Leptailurus serval) on farmlands in the Drakensberg Midlands, South Africa

  2015cites this paper
• Response to habitat modification by foraging Dark-chanting Goshawks Melierax metabates in a West African savanna

  2014cites this paper
• Applications of airborne lidar for the assessment of animal species diversity

  2014cites this paper
• Raptors in changing West African savannas : the impact of anthropogenic land transformation on populations of Palearctic and Afrotropical raptors in northern Cameroon

  2013cites this paper
• Breeding performance of the grasshopper buzzard ( Butastur rufipennis ) in a natural and a human-modified West African savanna

  2013cites this paper
• Occurrence of top carnivores in relation to land protection status, human settlements and rock outcrops in the high mountains of central Argentina

  2013cites this paper
• Breeding Performance of the Grasshopper Buzzard (Butastur rufipennis) in a Natural and A Human-Modified West African Savanna

  2013cites this paper
• Spatial patterns of land-use by immature African white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus) captured in the North-West Province, South Africa

  2012cites this paper
• Soil nutrients under shrub hummocks and debris mounds two decades after ploughing

  2012cites this paper
• Behavioural flexibility in foraging mode of the spotted sand lizard (Pedioplanis l. lineoocellata) seems to buffer negative impacts of savanna degradation

  2012cites this paper
• How functional is functional? Ecological groupings in terrestrial animal ecology: towards an animal functional type approach

  2011cites this paper
• Activity and movement patterns of Geoffroy's cat in the grasslands of Argentina

  2011cites this paper
• Rodent-mediated dispersal of Acacia seeds in Kalahari savannah rangelands – implications for bush encroachment

  2011cites this paper
• Space use of the spotted sand lizard (Pedioplanis l. lineoocellata) under different degradation states

  2010cites this paper
• Consequences of woody plant encroachment for mammalian predators

  2010influential citation
• Population and Ecosystem Modeling of Land Use and Climate Change Impacts on Arid and Semiarid Savanna Dynamics

  2010cites this paper
• Woody Fractional Cover in Kruger National Park, South Africa: Remote Sensing–Based Maps and Ecological Insights

  2010cites this paper
• Rangeland Conservation and Shrub Encroachment: New Perspectives on an Old Problem

  2009cites this paper
• Impact of Livestock Husbandry on Small- and Medium-Sized Carnivores in Kalahari Savannah Rangelands

  2009cites this paper
• Effects of climate change on the coupled dynamics of water and vegetation in drylands

  2009cites this paper
• The influence of changes in habitat structure on the species composition of bird assemblages in the southern Kalahari

  2009cites this paper
• Behavioural responses of the lizard Pedioplanis l. lineoocellata to overgrazing

  2009cites this paper
• Changes in arthropod diversity along a land use driven gradient of shrub cover in savanna rangelands: identification of suitable indicators

  2009cites this paper
• Limitations of population models in predicting climate change effects: a simulation study of sociable weavers in southern Africa

  2008cites this paper
• Seasonal differences in spatial distribution of small carnivores in fragmented savannah landscapes

  2008cites this paper
• Indexing small mammalian carnivores in the southern Kalahari, South Africa

  2008influential citation
• Short-term transformation of matrix into hospitable habitat facilitates gene flow and mitigates fragmentation.

  2007cites this paper
• Simulating the impacts of vegetation structure on the occurrence of a small mammalian carnivore in semi-arid savanna rangelands

  2007cites this paper
• THE CONFLICTING IMPORTANCE OF SHRUBBY LANDSCAPE STRUCTURES FOR THE REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF THE YELLOW MONGOOSE (CYNICTIS PENICILLATA)

  2007cites this paper