Temporal and spatial distribution of dorcas and slender‐horned gazelles in a Saharan habitat
Temporal and spatial distribution of dorcas and slender‐horned gazelles in a Saharan habitat
Saharan ungulates have suffered from poaching across their range leading to population declines. Low abundance and habitat inaccessibility have limited the availability of empirical data on desert ungulate ecology in the wild. Our objective was to evaluate temporal and spatial distribution, and home-range sizes of wild dorcas gazelles (Gazella dorcas) and slender-horned gazelles (Gazella leptoceros) under natural conditions using observations from 14,398 camera-days collected between April 2019 and October 2021 in the 7,700-ha fenced area of Jbil National Park (Jbil NP), Tunisia. We individually identified gazelles in Jbil NP using unique horn morphology. Both gazelle species exhibited nocturnal activity patterns in summer, but diurnal activity patterns dominated in winter. We also detected both species more frequently in the plains than in mountains. Water presence was influential in determining distribution only for dorcas gazelles. Minimum convex polygons (MCPs) were 2,062 ha for both the male and female of the most frequently detected dorcas gazelle pair and 1,527 ha for another solitary male. For slender-horned gazelles, MCPs were 2,280 ha and 2,041 ha, respectively, for a male and a female detected in Jbil NP. The decline and rarity of gazelles in the Sahara Desert have limited the sample size of our observed populations. Our study provides hitherto unknown data on wild populations of rapidly declining gazelle species and contributes to ongoing conservation efforts.
gazella dorcas, gazella leptoceros, North Africa, Tunisia, activity patterns, antelope, conservation, home range
Meliane, Mohamed Khalil
22889ae6-3b5b-4ff8-8c55-67a0f59d635a
Saidi, Amira
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Petretto, Marie
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Gilbert, Tania
ec807003-6c13-4dcb-bb63-0f36e9143409
Nasri‐ammar, Karima
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July 2023
Meliane, Mohamed Khalil
22889ae6-3b5b-4ff8-8c55-67a0f59d635a
Saidi, Amira
1b0a7ff5-4d5e-4a4d-a4a5-d0a311318f21
Petretto, Marie
228fe179-d9c7-406c-90a7-d5a9190fda1d
Gilbert, Tania
ec807003-6c13-4dcb-bb63-0f36e9143409
Nasri‐ammar, Karima
debc21c7-7c89-4cc8-a2c2-73bd147b6002
Meliane, Mohamed Khalil, Saidi, Amira, Petretto, Marie, Gilbert, Tania and Nasri‐ammar, Karima
(2023)
Temporal and spatial distribution of dorcas and slender‐horned gazelles in a Saharan habitat.
The Journal of Wildlife Management, 87 (5), [e22408].
(doi:10.1002/jwmg.22408).
Abstract
Saharan ungulates have suffered from poaching across their range leading to population declines. Low abundance and habitat inaccessibility have limited the availability of empirical data on desert ungulate ecology in the wild. Our objective was to evaluate temporal and spatial distribution, and home-range sizes of wild dorcas gazelles (Gazella dorcas) and slender-horned gazelles (Gazella leptoceros) under natural conditions using observations from 14,398 camera-days collected between April 2019 and October 2021 in the 7,700-ha fenced area of Jbil National Park (Jbil NP), Tunisia. We individually identified gazelles in Jbil NP using unique horn morphology. Both gazelle species exhibited nocturnal activity patterns in summer, but diurnal activity patterns dominated in winter. We also detected both species more frequently in the plains than in mountains. Water presence was influential in determining distribution only for dorcas gazelles. Minimum convex polygons (MCPs) were 2,062 ha for both the male and female of the most frequently detected dorcas gazelle pair and 1,527 ha for another solitary male. For slender-horned gazelles, MCPs were 2,280 ha and 2,041 ha, respectively, for a male and a female detected in Jbil NP. The decline and rarity of gazelles in the Sahara Desert have limited the sample size of our observed populations. Our study provides hitherto unknown data on wild populations of rapidly declining gazelle species and contributes to ongoing conservation efforts.
Text
Gazelles-Jbil-NP_March23
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 14 March 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 3 April 2023
Published date: July 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
We acknowledge the long‐term research and conservation partnership between Marwell Wildlife and the Direction Générale des Forêts (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, Tunisia), which made this work possible. Thanks go to M. Boufaroua, E. Taghouti, H. Guidara, M. Bourouba, B. Ben Amor, and I. Ben Jlila for their assistance in permitting and facilitating fieldwork. We also thank O. Meliane for her beautiful illustration of gazelle horn variations in Jbil's gazelles. This work was funded by Marwell Wildlife, Dublin Zoo, Safari Parc Monde Sauvage, Fossil Rim, Parco Faunistico Le Cornelle, Wrocław Zoo, Foundation DODO, Artis Amsterdam Royal Zoo, and Branféré Parc Animalier et Botanique.
Funding Information:
We acknowledge the long-term research and conservation partnership between Marwell Wildlife and the Direction Générale des Forêts (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, Tunisia), which made this work possible. Thanks go to M. Boufaroua, E. Taghouti, H. Guidara, M. Bourouba, B. Ben Amor, and I. Ben Jlila for their assistance in permitting and facilitating fieldwork. We also thank O. Meliane for her beautiful illustration of gazelle horn variations in Jbil's gazelles. This work was funded by Marwell Wildlife, Dublin Zoo, Safari Parc Monde Sauvage, Fossil Rim, Parco Faunistico Le Cornelle, Wrocław Zoo, Foundation DODO, Artis Amsterdam Royal Zoo, and Branféré Parc Animalier et Botanique.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Wildlife Society.
Keywords:
gazella dorcas, gazella leptoceros, North Africa, Tunisia, activity patterns, antelope, conservation, home range
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 477546
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/477546
ISSN: 0022-541X
PURE UUID: bc04e3b8-c2f0-427a-be65-807470f76016
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 08 Jun 2023 16:36
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 05:12
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Contributors
Author:
Mohamed Khalil Meliane
Author:
Amira Saidi
Author:
Marie Petretto
Author:
Tania Gilbert
Author:
Karima Nasri‐ammar
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