Rabaiotti, D;
Groom, R;
McNutt, JW;
Watermeyer, J;
O'Neill, H;
Woodroffe, R;
(2021)
High temperatures and human pressures interact to influence mortality in an African carnivore.
Ecology and Evolution
, 11
pp. 8495-8506.
10.1002/ece3.7601.
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Abstract
The impacts of high ambient temperatures on mortality in humans and domestic animals are well-understood. However much less is known about how hot weather affects mortality in wild animals. High ambient temperatures have been associated with African wild dog Lycaon pictus pup mortality, suggesting that high temperatures might also be linked to high adult mortality. We analyzed mortality patterns in African wild dogs radio-collared in Kenya (0°N), Botswana (20°S), and Zimbabwe (20°S), to examine whether ambient temperature was associated with adult mortality. We found that high ambient temperatures were associated with increased adult wild dog mortality at the Kenya site, and there was some evidence for temperature associations with mortality at the Botswana and Zimbabwe sites. At the Kenya study site, which had the highest human impact, high ambient temperatures were associated with increased risks of wild dogs being killed by people, and by domestic dog diseases. In contrast, temperature was not associated with the risk of snare-related mortality at the Zimbabwe site, which had the second-highest human impact. Causes of death varied markedly between sites. Pack size was positively associated with survival at all three sites. These findings suggest that while climate change may not lead to new causes of mortality, rising temperatures may exacerbate existing anthropogenic threats to this endangered species, with implications for conservation. This evidence suggests that temperature-related mortality, including interactions between temperature and other anthropogenic threats, should be investigated in a greater number of species to understand and mitigate likely impacts of climate change.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | High temperatures and human pressures interact to influence mortality in an African carnivore |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1002/ece3.7601 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7601 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | climate change, human–wildlife, conflict, Lycaon, pictus, mortality, survival, temperature |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10125114 |
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