Linking diet switching to reproductive performance across populations of two critically endangered mammalian herbivores.

Autor: Harvey Sky N; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9NT, UK. nick.c.harvey@gmail.com.; North of England Zoological Society, Chester Zoo, Upton-by-Chester, CH2 1LH, UK. nick.c.harvey@gmail.com., Britnell J; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9NT, UK.; North of England Zoological Society, Chester Zoo, Upton-by-Chester, CH2 1LH, UK., Antwis R; School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WX, UK., Kartzinel T; Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Brown University, 85 Waterman Street, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.; Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University, 85 Waterman Street, Providence, RI, 02912, USA., Rubenstein D; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544-2016, USA., Toye P; International Livestock Research Institute and Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, Nairobi, P.O. Box 30709-00100, Kenya., Karani B; International Livestock Research Institute and Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, Nairobi, P.O. Box 30709-00100, Kenya., Njeru R; International Livestock Research Institute and Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, Nairobi, P.O. Box 30709-00100, Kenya., Hinchcliffe D; School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 3AF, UK., Gaymer J; Ol Jogi Ltd., PO Box 259-10400, Nanyuki, Kenya., Mutisya S; Ol Pejeta Conservancy, PO Box 167, Nanyuki, Kenya., Shultz S; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9NT, UK.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Communications biology [Commun Biol] 2024 Mar 15; Vol. 7 (1), pp. 333. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Mar 15.
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-05983-3
Abstrakt: Optimal foraging theory predicts that animals maximise energy intake by consuming the most valuable foods available. When resources are limited, they may include lower-quality fallback foods in their diets. As seasonal herbivore diet switching is understudied, we evaluate its extent and effects across three Kenyan reserves each for Critically Endangered eastern black rhino (Diceros bicornis michaeli) and Grevy's zebra (Equus grevyi), and its associations with habitat quality, microbiome variation, and reproductive performance. Black rhino diet breadth increases with vegetation productivity (NDVI), whereas zebra diet breadth peaks at intermediate NDVI. Black rhino diets associated with higher vegetation productivity have less acacia (Fabaceae: Vachellia and Senegalia spp.) and more grass suggesting that acacia are fallback foods, upending conventional assumptions. Larger dietary shifts are associated with longer calving intervals. Grevy's zebra diets in high rainfall areas are consistently grass-dominated, whereas in arid areas they primarily consume legumes during low vegetation productivity periods. Whilst microbiome composition between individuals is affected by the environment, and diet composition in black rhino, seasonal dietary shifts do not drive commensurate microbiome shifts. Documenting diet shifts across ecological gradients can increase the effectiveness of conservation by informing habitat suitability models and improving understanding of responses to resource limitation.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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