Drought-response strategies of savanna herbivores

Ecology and Evolution
Joel O AbrahamA Carla Staver

Abstract

Climate models predict increases in drought frequency and severity worldwide, with potential impacts on diverse systems, including African savannas. These droughts pose a concern for the conservation of savanna mammal communities, such that understanding how different species respond to drought is vital.Because grass decreases so consistently during droughts, we predict that grass-dependent species (grazers and mixed feeders) will respond strongly to drought, whether by changing diets, seeking drought refugia, or suffering mortality.A recent severe but heterogeneous drought in Kruger National Park, South Africa, afforded a rare opportunity to test these hypotheses in situ-crucial, given the central role of landscape-scale movement as a potential herbivore strategy. We used herbivore dung as a proxy, integrating spatial distributions (dung counts) with diet composition (carbon isotope analysis of dung).As predicted, browsers showed little response to drought. However, mixed feeders switched their diets to incorporate more C3 trees/forbs, but did not move. Meanwhile, grazers and megaherbivores instead moved toward drought refugia. Synthesis and applications: The responses we observed by savanna herbivores are largely amplificatio...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 25, 2019·Ecology·Madelon F CaseA Carla Staver
Oct 9, 2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·J Tyler FaithAndrew Du
Oct 4, 2020·Science Advances·A Carla Staver, Gareth P Hempson
Apr 13, 2021·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Matthew O TrisosEdmund C February
May 16, 2021·Nature Communications·Suresh A SinghMichael J Benton
Nov 26, 2021·Science·Allison T KarpA Carla Staver

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