Can hyena behavior predict abundances of sympatric carnivores?

David S. Green, Matthew T. Farr, Kay E. Holekamp, Eli D. Strauss, & Elise F. Zipkin

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

Code/Data DOI:

Please contact the first author for questions about the code or data: David S. Green ([email protected])

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Abstract:

Mammalian carnivores are declining worldwide due to human activities. Behavioural indicators have the potential to help identify population trends and inform conservation actions, although this area of research is understudied. We investigate whether behaviour is linked to abundance in a community of carnivores in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Anthropogenic disturbance increased exponentially in parts of the Reserve between 1988 and 2017, mainly due to daily incursions by large numbers of livestock and tourists. Previous research showed that hyena behaviour changed markedly during this period. Through a series of vignettes, we inquire whether hyena behaviours correlate with changes in abundance of hyenas themselves, or those of other carnivore species in the region. We find that changes in spotted hyena behaviour in disturbed areas, but not in undisturbed areas, can be linked to changes in their demography (Vignette 1). We also find that declines in observed lion–hyena interactions as well as increases in spotted hyena abundance are likely caused by competitive release of hyenas from declining lion abundance (Vignette 2). Finally, we demonstrate that in some cases, hyena behaviour and demography is linked to the density and distribution of sympatric carnivores, and that behavioural changes in hyenas can provide information on shifts within the carnivore community (Vignettes 3 and 4). Our vignettes reveal intriguing relationships between behaviour and demography that should be explored in future research. Pairing behavioural studies with more traditional monitoring efforts can yield useful insights regarding population and community trends, and aid wildlife conservation and management.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation’.

Repository Directory

DataAnalysis: Contains code for vignettes

Figures: Contains figures

RawData: Contains data to run analyses

PublishedPDF: PDF of published paper

Data

Data is contained within RawData and archived on Zenodo.

Code

Code is contained within DataAnalysis and archived on Zenodo.