Coexistence in an African pastoral landscape: Evidence that livestock and wildlife temporally partition water resources

Erin Connolly,Alice Aduda,Peter Tyrrell,Amy Dickman,Peadar Brehony,James Allan,Guy Western,Samantha Russell

doi:10.1111/aje.12869

Erin Connolly, Alice Aduda + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12869

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Abstract

AbstractAfrican rangelands support substantial wildlife populations alongside pastoralists and livestock. Recent wildlife declines are often attributed to competition with livestock over water and grazing, in part because livestock are thought to spatially displace wildlife. However, more evidence is needed to understand this interaction and inform rangeland management. Here, we analysed the temporal overlap between wildlife and livestock at water points in a community‐governed area of Kenya's South Rift Valley, which is a dry season refuge where Maasai pastoralists, livestock and wildlife co‐occur. We used camera traps to capture images at water points in two time periods: first, when nearby settlements were unoccupied, and second, as people and their herds moved into the area. We measured wildlife activity (independent detections per hour) and the difference in temporal overlap between livestock and wildlife. We found no evidence that daily wildlife activity declined despite increased human and livestock settlement. However, temporal partitioning between livestock and wildlife at watering points increased with wildlife using water resources more at night. Maasai corral livestock overnight to protect them from predation, allowing wildlife to persist in a livestock‐dominated landscape. Our study demonstrates humans and wildlife co‐adapting to mitigate competition for shared water resources, thereby facilitating spatial coexistence.

Highlights

Rangelands worldwide hold immense economic and social importance, providing food security for millions of people and supporting their livelihoods (Lund, 2007)
Rangelands are globally important for both livestock and wildlife populations (Lund, 2007; Nicholson, 2000)
We show that livestock–wildlife coexistence is possible in a livestock-dominated pastoralist system and is facilitated by some traditional livestock management practices

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Rangelands worldwide hold immense economic and social importance, providing food security for millions of people and supporting their livelihoods (Lund, 2007). Conflict with predators and dangerous herbivores (e.g. cape buffalo [Syncerus caffer]) creates direct costs, such as livestock depredation, crop loss, and human injuries and fatalities (Chaminuka et al, 2012; Zimmermann et al, 2009), and indirect costs, including opportunity costs from time lost guarding crops or livestock, and detrimental mental and physical health effects (Barua et al, 2013) These potential costs of livestock–wildlife coexistence have to be considered against the ecological and economic benefits of coexistence. Water is important in determining distributions of wildlife and livestock (Mizutani et al, 2012; Ogutu et al, 2014), and it is possible that restricted access of wildlife to permanent water sources has contributed to recent population declines in Kenya (de Leeuw et al, 2001) Some studies suggest this is because livestock and human activity around watering points prevents wildlife from sharing the resource (du Toit et al, 2017). We expected temporal partitioning between livestock and wildlife to increase, with wildlife using water resources more at night

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