Behavioral adaptations of a large carnivore to human activity in an extremely arid landscape
Corresponding Author
A. Barocas
San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research, Escondido, CA, USA
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney, Abingdon, UK
Equal contribution.Correspondence
Adi Barocas, San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research, 15600 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido, CA 92027, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorR. Hefner
Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Southern District, Beer Sheva, Israel
Equal contribution.Search for more papers by this authorM. Ucko
Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute, National Center for Mariculture, Eilat, Israel
Equal contribution.Search for more papers by this authorJ. A. Merkle
Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
Search for more papers by this authorE. Geffen
Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
A. Barocas
San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research, Escondido, CA, USA
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Tubney, Abingdon, UK
Equal contribution.Correspondence
Adi Barocas, San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research, 15600 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido, CA 92027, USA.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorR. Hefner
Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Southern District, Beer Sheva, Israel
Equal contribution.Search for more papers by this authorM. Ucko
Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research Institute, National Center for Mariculture, Eilat, Israel
Equal contribution.Search for more papers by this authorJ. A. Merkle
Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
Search for more papers by this authorE. Geffen
Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorEditor: Julie Young
Associate Editor: Abi Vanak
Abstract
Driven by the availability of food subsidies and landscape transformation, large carnivore populations are increasingly inhabiting the vicinity of humans. To persist in human proximity, while avoiding conflict and mortality, they must make adjustments in their spatial behavior. Understanding such behavioral adaptations can be crucial to formulate conservation strategies. We used GPS location data to study the movement and space use of protected Arabian wolves in the extremely arid Negev Desert (Israel), where natural prey densities are reduced. We examined wolf preference for the proximity of human infrastructure, while testing the hypothesis that wolves would use areas where ungulates were more likely to occur. Wolves showed a strong spatial association with humans, spending a large proportion of their time in proximity of human infrastructure and moving primarily along roads. Wolves also increased their movement during the night. In addition, wolves that had higher availability of human infrastructure in their home ranges showed increased selection for such features, suggesting a positive functional response. Finally, wolves did not show preference for areas of high ungulate occurrence at either spatial scale. These findings, combined with recent diet analyses, indicate that wolves rely on human subsidies, proportioned by the availability of garbage and agricultural produce. Our results demonstrate that wolves fine-tune their space use to persist in the vicinity of humans. Additional conditions that enable such persistence include effective legal protection and positive local attitudes toward wolves. We conclude that such circumstances can promote spatial coexistence of humans and large carnivores. The strong observed spatial association and evident dietary dependence of wolves on subsidies from a low-density human population may also reflect the conditions that led to dog domestication.
Supporting Information
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| acv12414-sup-0001-Supinfo.docxWord document, 2.7 MB |
Table S1. Listing of fixed effects and selected model selection rankings for several random-slopes resource selection functions (RSF) fit to Arabian wolf GPS location data in southern Israel, 2010–2015. Table S2. Coefficients (β), standard errors (SE), z scores and 95% confidence intervals of fixed effects and variance of random slopes of the full model resource selection function (RSF) for home-range scale wolf space use. Variables are further described in Table 1. Data included GPS locations from 28 Arabian wolves in Southern Israel, collected in 2010–2015. Table S3. Coefficients (β), standard errors (SE) and 95% confidence intervals of fixed effects and variance of random slopes for full model RSF for home-range scale wolf space use. Variables are further described in Table 1. Data included GPS locations from 21 Arabian wolves which did not show overlap in their home ranges in southern Israel, collected in 2010–2015. Table S4. Coefficients (β), standard errors (SE) and 95% confidence intervals of fixed effects and variance of random slopes for full model RSF for home-range scale wolf space use. Variables are further described in Table 1. Data included GPS locations from 23 Arabian wolves which were not dispersing during the tracking period in southern Israel, collected in 2010–2015. Table S5. Listing of all individual Arabian wolves, sex, tracking period, home range sizes and density of human features within home ranges. Wolves were captured and tracked in the Negev desert, southern Israel, in 2010–2015. Table S6. Coefficients (β), robust standard errors (SE) and significance of parameterized step selection functions (SSF) modeling wolf movement during day and night for full datasets. Output of the night SSF includes an interaction term describing functional response to human distance. Variables are further described in Table 1. Data includes GPS locations from 28 Arabian wolves in Southern Israel, collected in 2010–2015. Table S7. Listing of model selection results for several step selection functions (SSF), divided by twilight and night locations, with the full dataset. Model fit was assessed using quasi-likelihood information criteria. SSFs were built from GPS location data from 28 Arabian wolves in southern Israel, 2010–2015. Figure S1. Map of Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs) capture locations in southern Israel. Wolves were captured using foothold traps and fit with GPS collars between 2010 and 2015. Figure S2. Map of of dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas) occurrence probability in southern Israel and neighboring areas, derived from a density kernel of 10,750 observations made during 2008–2016. Gazelle probability of occurrence was used as a predictor in models of Arabian wolf resource selection and step selection. Figure S3. Histogram of the proportions of wolf locations at increasing distances from human infrastructure. Data was summarized from 28 Arabian wolf locations, collected in southern Israel in 2010-2015. Figure S4. Histogram of wolf step length frequencies during twilight and night time. Data was summarized from 28 Arabian wolf locations, collected in southern Israel in 2010–2015. |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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