Ontogenetic habitat use and seasonal activity of Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) in the Lake Albert delta, East Africa

Abstract

Crocodiles play important roles in many ecosystems, but their populations worldwide are threatened by human exploitation and habitat destruction. We studied ontogenetic changes in habitat use and seasonal activity patterns in a population of Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) inhabiting the Lake Albert Delta Wetland System, a Ramsar Site of international importance in Murchison Falls National Park of western Uganda. A total of 186 crocodile observations were made from monthly surveys of five transects during October 2017 to September 2018. Crocodiles exhibited a marginally bi-modal seasonal pattern, with the fewest observations from July to August and October to November, and the highest observations from January to February and April to May. Crocodiles were most frequently encountered along the north shore of the delta, especially on riverbanks with woody vegetation, followed by Cyperus papyrus-Vossia dominated habitats, while crocodiles were infrequently observed on islands and muddy banks. Habitat niche breadth was narrowest in hatchlings and widest in sub-adults, with juveniles and large adults exhibiting intermediate values. Overlap in habitat resource use across size classes was generally high, with the lowest overlap between hatchlings and juveniles, and the highest between large and sub-adult crocodiles. Our study on Nile crocodiles in the Lake Albert delta provides insights into habitat partitioning among different demographic segments of this population that can be utilized to improve its management in one of Africa’s Great Lakes by spatially and temporally focusing conservation efforts on the most used habitats and seasonal aggregations, respectively.