Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T00:25:07.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Temporal dynamics of dry-season water-hole use by large African herbivores in two years of contrasting rainfall in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Marion Valeix
Marion Valeix*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, CNRS UMR 5558, Université Claude Bernard – Lyon 1, Bât Gregor Mendel, 43 Bd du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France
*
1Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

As the dry season progresses in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, rain-fed surface water sources become depleted, forcing most animals to concentrate in the immediate vicinity of the few remaining permanent sources of drinking water. This study investigates the temporal dynamics of use of water-holes by nine African large-herbivore species in the dry season in the semi-arid savanna of Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, and particularly how annual rainfall influences this temporal dynamics. Two contrasting years in terms of annual rainfall were compared: 2003 (a drought – 362.6 mm) and 2004 (average rainfall – 695.8 mm). In 2003, water-holes were used far more intensively and the level of aggregation of herbivores at water-holes was significantly higher. The temporal dynamics of water-hole use in the dry season differed between the two years: in 2003, the peak of water-hole use started much earlier and lasted 3 mo. Elephants and grazers showed the largest difference in use of water-holes between 2003 and 2004 supporting the suggestion that browsers are less water dependent. This study suggests that annual rainfall should be taken into account when predicting the peak of the dry season.

Keywords

African savannaaggregationbrowsersdrinking behaviourelephantsenvironmental variabilitygrazers
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 163 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

AYENI, J. S. O. 1975. Utilization of waterholes in Tsavo National Park (East). East African Wildlife Journal 13:305–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHAMAILLÉ-JAMMES, S., VALEIX, M. & FRITZ, H. 2007a. Managing heterogeneity in elephant distribution: interaction between elephant population density and surface-water availability. Journal of Applied Ecology 44:625–633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHAMAILLÉ-JAMMES, S., FRITZ, H. & MURINDAGOMO, F. 2007b. Climate-driven fluctuations in surface-water availability and the buffering role of artificial pumping in an African savanna: potential implications for herbivore dynamics. Austral Ecology 32:740–748.Google Scholar
CHAMAILLÉ-JAMMES, S., FRITZ, H. & HOLDO, R. M. 2007c. Spatial relationship between elephant and sodium concentration of water disappears as density increases in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Journal of Tropical Ecology 23:725–728.Google Scholar
CHAMAILLÉ-JAMMES, S., FRITZ, H., VALEIX, M., MURINDAGOMO, F. & CLOBERT, J. 2008. Resource variability, aggregation and direct density dependence in an open context: the local regulation of an African elephant population. Journal of Animal Ecology 77:135–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHAMAILLÉ-JAMMES, S., FRITZ, H. & MADZIKANDA, H. 2009. Piosphere contribution to landscape heterogeneity: a case study of remote-sensed woody cover in a high elephant density landscape. Ecography 32:871–880.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COE, M. J., CUMMING, D. H. M. & PHILLIPSON, J. 1976. Biomass and production of large herbivores in relation to rainfall and primary production. Oecologia 22:341–354.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DUDLEY, J. P., CRAIG, G. C., GIBSON, D. C., HAYNES, G. & KLIMOWICZ, J. 2001. Drought mortality of bush elephants in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. African Journal of Ecology 39:187–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DUNHAM, K. M. 1994. The effect of drought on the large mammal populations of Zambezi riverine woodlands. Journal of Zoology 234:489–526.Google Scholar
GORTÁZAR, C., AVECEDO, P., RUIZ-FONS, F. & VICENTE, J. 2006. Disease risks and overabundance of game species. European Journal of Wildlife Research 52:81–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRENFELL, B. T. & DOBSON, A. P. 1995. Ecology of infectious diseases in natural populations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 521 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NEMANI, R. R., KEELING, C. D., HASHIMOTO, H., JOLLY, W. M., PIPER, S. C., COMPTON, J. T., MYNENI, R. B. & RUNNING, S. W. 2003. Climate-driven increases in global terrestrial net primary production from 1982 to 1999. Science 300:1560–1563.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
OWEN-SMITH, N. 1988. Megaherbivores: the influence of very large body size on ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 369 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OWEN-SMITH, N. 1990. Demography of a large herbivore, the greater kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros, in relation to rainfall. Journal of Animal Ecology 59:893–913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OWEN-SMITH, N. 1996. Ecological guidelines for waterpoints in extensive protected areas. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 26:107–112.Google Scholar
OWEN-SMITH, N. 2002. Adaptive herbivore ecology: from resources to populations in variable environments. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 374 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
REDFERN, J. V., GRANT, R., BIGGS, H. & GETZ, W. M. 2003. Surface-water constraints on herbivore foraging in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Ecology 84:2092–2107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
REDFERN, J. V., GRANT, C. C., GAYLARD, A. & GETZ, W. M. 2005. Surface water availability and the management of herbivore distributions in an African ecosystem. Journal of Arid Environments 63:406–424.Google Scholar
REDFERN, J. V., RYAN, S. J. & GETZ, W. M. 2006. Defining herbivore assemblages in the Kruger National Park: a correlative coherence approach. Oecologia 146:632–640.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
RITTER, R. C. & BEDNEKOFF, P. A. 1995. Dry season water, female movements and male territoriality in springbok: preliminary evidence of waterhole-directed sexual selection. African Journal of Ecology 33:395–404.Google Scholar
ROGERS, C. M. L. 1993. A woody vegetation survey of Hwange National Park. Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management, Harare. 176 pp.Google Scholar
RYAN, S. J. & GETZ, W. M. 2005. A spatial location-allocation GIS framework for managing water sources in a savanna nature reserve. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 35:163–178.Google Scholar
SMIT, I. P. J., GRANT, C. G. & DEVEREUX, B. J. 2007. Do artificial waterholes influence the way herbivores use the landscape? Herbivore distribution patterns around rivers and artificial surface water sources in a large African savanna park. Biological Conservation 136:85–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TAYLOR, C. R. 1968. The minimum water requirement of some East African bovids. Symposium of the Zoological Society of London 21:195–206.Google Scholar
THRASH, I. & DERRY, J. F. 1999. The nature and modelling of piospheres: a review. Koedoe 42:73–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
THRASH, I., THERON, G. K. & BOTHMA, J. P. 1995. Dry season herbivore densities around drinking troughs in the Kruger National Park. Journal of Arid Environments 29:213–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
VALEIX, M., CHAMAILLÉ-JAMMES, S. & FRITZ, H. 2007. Interference competition and temporal niche shifts: elephants and herbivore communities at waterholes. Oecologia 153:739–748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
VALEIX, M., FRITZ, H., LOVERIDGE, A. J., DAVIDSON, Z., HUNT, J. E., MURINDAGOMO, F. & MACDONALD, D. W. 2009a. Does the risk of encountering lions influence African herbivore behaviour at waterholes? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 63:1483–1494.Google Scholar
VALEIX, M., LOVERIDGE, A. J., CHAMAILLÉ-JAMMES, S., DAVIDSON, Z., MURINDAGOMO, F., FRITZ, H. & MACDONALD, D. W. 2009b. Behavioral adjustments of African herbivores to predation risk by lions: spatiotemporal variations influence habitat use. Ecology 90:23–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
VALEIX, M., LOVERIDGE, A. J., DAVIDSON, Z., MADZIKANDA, H., FRITZ, H. & MACDONALD, D. W. 2010. How key habitat features influence large terrestrial carnivore movements: waterholes and African lions in a semi-arid savanna of north-western Zimbabwe. Landscape Ecology 25:337–351.Google Scholar
WALKER, B. H. 1987. Determinants of tropical savannas. IRL Press limited, Oxford. 156 pp.Google Scholar
WEIR, D. & DAVISON, E. 1965. Daily occurrence of African game animals at waterholes during dry weather. Zoologica Africana 1:353–368.Google Scholar
WESTERN, D. 1975. Water availability and its influence on the structure and dynamics of a savannah large mammal community. East African Wildlife Journal 13:265–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar