Bottom-Up Space Use With Top-Down Temporal Risk Buffering in Arid Herbivore Communities.

ABSTRACT: The landscape of fear (LOF) framework predicts that prey adapt their behavior to mitigate predation risk, yet the framework's expression in resource-limited, unfenced systems remains poorly understood. Across seven large herbivore species in an unfenced arid system, space use is governed by bottom-up constraints while predator risk is buffered in time, producing consistent low diel overlap with nocturnal carnivores and trait-dependent moderation of spatial responses. We used camera trap data from northwest Namibia to examine how five herbivore species (gemsbok Oryx gazella, southern giraffe Giraffa giraffa, greater kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros, Hartmann's mountain zebra Equus zebra, springbok Antidorcas marsupialis) and two megaherbivores (black rhinocer

SUBMITTER: Heydinger J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12765598 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature