Dataset Information

Feeding Ecology of the Cuvier's Gazelle (Gazella cuvieri, Ogilby, 1841) in the Sahara Desert.

ABSTRACT: Knowledge of the feeding ecology of ungulates in arid biomes offers an interesting model for understanding the drought resistance of large desert-adapted herbivores, a crucial issue in the face of increasing desertification due to climate change. To assess the feeding ecology of the endangered Cuvier's gazelle (Gazella cuvieri) in the Sahara desert, we used a multi-method approach combining faecal samples, direct observations, and the recording of indirect signs of feeding. We hypothesised that browser behaviour is the best foraging strategy for species living in hyper-arid environments, mainly due to long periods without grazing opportunities. Complementarily, we explored the effects of the main environmental descriptors (rainfalls and NDVI) on feeding patterns and diet quality. We found that Cuvier's diets are based mainly on acacias (Vachellia tortilis, V. flava) and occasionally on the annual forb Anastatica hierochuntica. In total, eighteen species (five trees, nine shrubs, three herbs, and one grass) belonging to fifteen families were recorded. Our result confirmed the browsers' characteristic of this species, reaffirming its ability to settle in a hostile environment. Acacias stand out as key species consumed at the southernmost limit of their range; hence, future conservation plans and strategies should take this into account for the survival of Cuvier's gazelle in desert environments.

SUBMITTER: Herrera-Sanchez FJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9951649 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Feeding Ecology of the Cuvier's Gazelle (<i>Gazella cuvieri</i>, Ogilby, 1841) in the Sahara Desert.

Herrera-Sánchez F Javier FJ López Omar O Rodríguez-Siles Javier J Díaz-Portero Miguel Ángel MÁ Arredondo Ángel Á Sáez Juan Manuel JM Álvarez Begoña B Cancio Inmaculada I de Lucas Jesús J Pérez Joaquín J Valenzuela Gerardo G Martínez-Valderrama Jaime J Sánchez-Cerdá Mariola M Qninba Abdeljebbar A Virgós Emilio E Calleja Juan Antonio JA Bartolomé Jordi J Albanell Elena E Serrano Emmanuel E Abáigar Teresa T Gil-Sánchez Jose María JM

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI 20230206 4

Knowledge of the feeding ecology of ungulates in arid biomes offers an interesting model for understanding the drought resistance of large desert-adapted herbivores, a crucial issue in the face of increasing desertification due to climate change. To assess the feeding ecology of the endangered Cuvier's gazelle (<i>Gazella cuvieri</i>) in the Sahara desert, we used a multi-method approach combining faecal samples, direct observations, and the recording of indirect signs of feeding. We hypothesise ...[more]

PMID: 36830354

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Project description:Captive breeding of endangered species often aims at preserving genetic diversity and to avoid the harmful effects of inbreeding. However, deleterious alleles causing inbreeding depression can be purged when inbreeding persists over several generations. Despite its great importance both for evolutionary biology and for captive breeding programmes, few studies have addressed whether and to which extent purging may occur. Here we undertake a longitudinal study with the largest captive population of Cuvier's gazelle managed under a European Endangered Species Programme since 1975. Previous results in this population have shown that highly inbred mothers tend to produce more daughters, and this fact was used in 2006 to reach a more appropriate sex-ratio in this polygynous species by changing the pairing strategy (i.e., pairing some inbred females instead of keeping them as surplus individuals in the population). Here, by using studbook data we explore whether purging has occurred in the population by investigating whether after the change in pairing strategy a) inbreeding and homozygosity increased at the population level, b) fitness (survival) increased, and c) the relationship between inbreeding and juvenile survival, was positive. Consistent with the existence of purging, we found an increase in inbreeding coefficients, homozygosity and juvenile survival. In addition, we showed that in the course of the breeding programme the relationship between inbreeding and juvenile survival was not uniform but rather changed over time: it was negative in the early years, flat in the middle years and positive after the change in pairing strategy. We highlight that by allowing inbred individuals to mate in captive stocks we may favour sex-ratio bias towards females, a desirable managing strategy to reduce the surplus of males that force most zoos to use ethical culling and euthanizing management tools. We discuss these possibilities but also acknowledge that many other effects should be considered before implementing inbreeding and purging as elements in management decisions.

Project description:The average body size of human prey animals in archaeological sites is influenced by myriad environmental, physiological and anthropogenic variables. When combined with supporting evidence, body size has the potential to provide a proxy for several variables of fundamental interest to archaeologists including climatic change, food availability and hunting impacts, among other things. In the southern Levant changes in mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella) body size in the Late Pleistocene were initially interpreted as evidence for a climatic downturn, but the picture has become increasingly murky as data has grown. Here we reconsider trends in gazelle body size using an updated dataset from the Mediterranean zone that spans the Early Epipaleolithic to the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (ca. 24,000-9,500 cal BP). Our results reveal that gazelle were smallest in the Early and Middle Epipaleolithic (Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran), reached their largest size in the early Late Epipaleolithic (Early Natufian) and then shrunk slightly before stabilizing in size through the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic. We see no evidence that sex ratio, or climatic factors influenced this trend. Instead, we explore the role of human impacts on gazelle populations and their habitats as they grew in earnest at the beginning of the Late Epipaleolithic when people first began to settle into more permanent communities. Initially, in the Early and Late Natufian, anthropogenic impacts related to more intensive hunting and the increased footprint of more permanent settlements on the landscape. This may have pushed gazelle numbers below what could be supported by the environment, thus increasing the amount of food available for each animal and hence average body size. Later, as humans began to cultivate plants, manage animals and establish permanent villages, avoidance of humans and livestock by gazelle, and greater stability in food and water availability provided by agriculture, may have similarly reduced gazelle population size and intraspecific competition, thus allowing individual animals to grow larger on average.

Dataset Information

Feeding Ecology of the Cuvier's Gazelle (Gazella cuvieri, Ogilby, 1841) in the Sahara Desert.

Publications

Feeding Ecology of the Cuvier's Gazelle (<i>Gazella cuvieri</i>, Ogilby, 1841) in the Sahara Desert.

Similar Datasets

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