Abstract
Apex predators play important roles in ecosystem functioning and, where they coexist, intraguild interactions can have profound effects on trophic relationships. Interactions between predators range from intraguild predation and competition to facilitation through scavenging opportunities. Despite the increased availability of fine-scale GPS data, the determinants and outcomes of encounters between apex predators remain understudied. We used simultaneous GPS data from collared spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) and African lions (Panthera leo) in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, to determine the environmental conditions of the encounters between the two species, which species provoked the encounter, and which species dominated the encounter. Our results show that encounters between hyaenas and lions are mostly resource-related (over a carcass or around waterholes). In the wet season, encounters mainly occur at a carcass, with lions being dominant over its access. In the dry season, encounters mainly occur in the absence of a carcass and near waterholes. Movements of hyaenas and lions before, during, and after these dry-season encounters suggest two interference scenarios: a passive interference scenario whereby both predators would be attracted to waterholes but lions would leave a waterhole used by hyaenas because of prey disturbance, and an active interference scenario whereby hyaenas would actively chase lions from waterhole areas, which are prime hunting grounds. This study highlights the seasonal dynamics of predator interactions and illustrates how the relative importance of negative interactions (interference competition during the dry season) and positive interactions (scavenging opportunities during the wet season) shifts over the course of the year.
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Acknowledgements
The Zimbabwe Research Council and the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority are kindly acknowledged for providing the opportunity to carry out this research. We deeply thank Nicholas Elliot, Jane Hunt, and Brent Stapelkamp for the collection of lion GPS data. This study was supported by the HERD project (Hwange Environmental Research Development), funded by the ANR FEAR (ANR-08-BLAN-0022), the CNRS, the RP-PCP platform, and by the Hwange Lion Project supported by Grants from The Darwin Initiative for Biodiversity Grant 162/09/015, The Eppley Foundation, Disney Foundation, Marwell Preservation Trust, Regina B. Frankenburg Foundation, The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, Panthera Foundation, and the generosity of Joan and Riv Winant. SP salary was provided by the ENS of Lyon and UCBL Lyon1. ER was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation co-funded by FEDER (projects CGL2009-07301/BOS, CGL2012-252 35931/BOS and CGL2017-83045-R). This work was performed using the computing facilities of the CC LBBE/PRABI. This work benefited from ideas developed in the framework of the ANR project FUTURE-PRED (ANR-18-CE02-0005-01). We thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on previous versions of the manuscript.
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SP and MV conceived and designed the study; SP collected the hyaena data and AJL and DWM provided the lion data; SP analysed the data; SP and MV interpreted the results and drafted the manuscript. All authors critically contributed to revised versions of the manuscript and gave final approval for publication.
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Périquet, S., Fritz, H., Revilla, E. et al. Dynamic interactions between apex predators reveal contrasting seasonal attraction patterns. Oecologia 195, 51–63 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04802-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04802-w