Transcript Potential Interaction between predation risk, food limitation and

Potential Interaction between predation risk, food limitation and disease
Food
Limitation
Disease
predation
Risk
Prey limitation
One affects the other
Disease
Food
limitation
Predation Risk
• Introduction
Recent studies in predation risk and antipredator response
Group size
Forage / movement pattern
fGC
Vigilance and fitness
Research seeks to quantify these responses
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Approach
Pertinent Questions
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Third
Final
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Pertinent questions
• Can predator risk lead to prey anti-predator
response resulting in interaction involving food
limitation and disease?
• If so in what way can we quantify the response to
predation either directly or indirectly?
To address these questions the research is
designed to take inventory of wildlife
numbers in perceived large carnivore ranges
by taking transects from previous animal
census counts.
• Assess the response to predation by the
frequency with which prey is found within the
home ranges of the selected carnivores
• changes in the diet of both wild carnivores
and their prey to be investigated through
assessment of fecal and grass chlorophyll
concentration and analysis of isotopes of
stable carbon (12C, 13C, 14C)
• mortalities will be collated with accompanying
GPS coordinates
By analyzing the Predator home range, Chlorophyll
concentration, Carbon isotopes , fecal GC metabolites,
mortalities due to prey vs other non- preyed mortalities • When prey is most abundant within the carnivore home range and why
• The frequency with which they are preyed upon in the three seasons and
carnivore home range.
• Why prey have to balance between risk of predation and survival (food
and water availability).
• How and why some disease outbreak is possibly precipitated by predation
risk.
• Synchrony variation in carnivore home range size with the seasonal
change.
• Why there might be need for translocation and reintroduction of some
species in some National Parks.
• Evaluation of fGC as stress indicator in high predation risk versus the low
risk.
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Type of design for the study
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Retrospective data
Random Transects
Selection of area for predator home range
Satellite collaring of predators
Transects to narrow to predator ranges
Selection of control group
Data to be collected
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Predator density.
Predator area home range and fluctuation over time.
Prey density.
Prey species hunted by carnivores.
Prey fecal Glucocorticoides.
Prey fecal glucocorticoids from game ranch species
where predation risk is absent.
• Fecal and grass chlorophyll trends in the parks and
game ranches where the control groups will be
selected.
• Alteration in foraging pattern.
• Mortality record and possible causes
Statistical Analysis