Abstract
Intra-guild interactions related to facilitation and competition can be strong forces structuring ecological communities and have been suggested as particularly prominent for large carnivores. The African lion (Panthera leo) is generally thought to be a dominant predator where it occurs and can be expected to have broad effects on sympatric carnivore communities. We used data from two small game reserves in northern South Africa to relate the presence of African lions to abundance, habitat use, diet, and prey selection of two sympatric large carnivores, brown hyaenas (Parahyaena brunnea) and leopards (Panthera pardus). Our results offered some support for the facilitative effects of lions on brown hyaenas, and competitive effects on leopards. However, differences between populations living without and with lions were restricted to broad diet composition and appear not to have permeated into differences in either prey selection, abundance or habitat use. Therefore, we suggest that the potential effects of lions on the predator–prey interactions of sympatric predators may have been context dependent or absent, and subsequently argue that lions may not necessarily influence the predator–prey dynamics in the landscapes they live in beyond those caused by their own predatory behaviour.
Highlights
To fully understand the dynamics of ecological communities, it is critically important to quantify interactions among individual species [1]
We predicted that brown hyaenas, due to facilitative interactions primarily related to carrion provisioning, would show increased abundance in the presence of lions, but that low levels of intraspecific competition would result in limited differences in habitat use for populations living with and without lions
Predicted occupancy did not differ between populations living without and with lions for either brown hyaenas (χ2 = 1.28, df = 1, p = 0.257) or leopards (χ2 = 0.37, df = 1, p = 0.544), predicted occupancy was lower for the populations living without than with lions for both brown hyaenas and leopards
Summary
To fully understand the dynamics of ecological communities, it is critically important to quantify interactions among individual species [1]. Since lions are specialised predators on medium-sized and large vertebrates [20], we can expect facilitative interactions between lions and brown hyaenas due to carcass provisioning, and competitive interactions between lions and leopards due to both species’ predatory habits. We contrasted the abundance, habitat use, diet and prey selection of brown hyaenas and leopards between areas without and with lions present to explore the nature of interspecific interactions between lions and these two large African carnivores. We predicted that brown hyaenas, due to facilitative interactions primarily related to carrion provisioning, would show increased abundance in the presence of lions, but that low levels of intraspecific competition would result in limited differences in habitat use for populations living with and without lions. On the other hand, we predicted that competition with lions would result in lower leopard abundance in the presence of lions that leopards would shift their habitat use in response to lion presence, and that leopards would feed on smaller-sized prey in the presence of lions
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