Water Availability Impacts Habitat Use by Red-Fronted Lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons): An Experimental and Observational Study
Water Availability Impacts Habitat Use by Red-Fronted Lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons): An Experimental and Observational Study
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DOI：
10.1007/s10764-020-00136-9
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发表时间：
2020-02-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Nunn, Charles L.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Amoroso, Caroline R.;Kappeler, Peter M.;Nunn, Charles L.
随着全球气候变化导致极端天气事件预计增加，生活在干燥或季节性干燥栖息地的动物可能会经历季节与年份之间可用水量的剧烈波动。了解动物如何应对水资源供应的短期变化对于未来依赖水的野生种群的保护和管理至关重要。我们利用 15 周内从 GPS 项圈收集的详细空间数据，研究了马达加斯加西部干燥落叶林中水供应的短期变化如何影响四群红额狐猴 (Eulemur rufifrons) 的栖息地利用。我们通过实验控制栖息地的水供应，并将实验期间狐猴的活动范围与实验前后的活动范围进行比较。狐猴群体相对于自然和实验用水的变化改变了其栖息地利用的强度。具体来说，在实验期间，狐猴更有可能在靠近实验水源的区域度过时间，而不是在没有水的相同区域度过时间。当实验水源可用时，狐猴不太可能在以前习惯的水源附近停留。当水坑在旱季消失时，我们观察到随着可用水量的自然变化，强度范围发生变化。我们的研究结果支持了水对于塑造野生动物活动模式的重要性。我们建议，水应该成为未来栖息地利用研究的首要考虑因素，特别是考虑到气候变化和人类土地利用可能进一步改变野生动物的水供应。
With the predicted increase in extreme weather events as a result of global climate change, animals living in dry or seasonally dry habitats are likely to experience dramatic fluctuations in water availability from season to season and year to year. Understanding how animals respond to short-term changes in water availability is paramount for future conservation and management of water-dependent wild populations. We investigated how short-term changes to the availability of water influenced habitat use of four groups of red-fronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) in a dry deciduous forest in western Madagascar using detailed spatial data collected from GPS collars over 15 weeks. We experimentally manipulated water availability in the habitat and compared ranging patterns of the lemurs during the experiments to those before and after the experiments. Lemur groups shifted the intensity of their habitat use relative to changes in natural and experimental water availability. Specifically, lemurs were more likely to spend time in areas near experimental water sources during the experiment than in the same areas without water. Lemurs were less likely to spend time near previous habitual water sources when experimental water sources were available. We observed shifts in ranging intensity in response to natural changes to water availability when waterholes disappeared across the dry season. Our findings support the importance of water for shaping wild animal ranging patterns. We propose that water should be a primary consideration in future studies of habitat use, especially given the potential for climate change and human land use to further alter water availability for wild animals.