Monitoring Rarity: The Critically Endangered Saharan Cheetah as a Flagship Species for a Threatened Ecosystem

Deserts are particularly vulnerable to human impacts and have already suffered a substantial loss of biodiversity. In harsh and variable desert environments, large herbivores typically occur at low densities, and their large carnivore predators occur at even lower densities. The continued survival o...

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Veröffentlicht in:PloS one Jg. 10; H. 1; S. e0115136
Hauptverfasser: Belbachir, Farid, Pettorelli, Nathalie, Wacher, Tim, Belbachir-Bazi, Amel, Durant, Sarah M.
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: United States Public Library of Science 28.01.2015
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Schlagworte:
Acinonyx
Acinonyx jubatus
Algeria
Animals
Biodiversity
Biodiversity loss
Biology
Cameras
Carnivores
Cheetahs
Conservation
Density
Desert Climate
Desert environments
Deserts
Ecology
Ecosystem
Ecosystem biology
Ecosystems
Ecotourism
Endangered species
Environmental monitoring
Geography
Herbivores
Home range
Human influences
Humans
National parks
Nocturnal
Polls & surveys
Population Density
Predators
Predatory Behavior
Rare species
Savannahs
Studies
Test procedures
Threatened species
Tourism
Wildlife conservation
Zoology
Algeria
ISSN:1932-6203, 1932-6203
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Zusammenfassung:Deserts are particularly vulnerable to human impacts and have already suffered a substantial loss of biodiversity. In harsh and variable desert environments, large herbivores typically occur at low densities, and their large carnivore predators occur at even lower densities. The continued survival of large carnivores is key to healthy functioning desert ecosystems, and the ability to gather reliable information on these rare low density species, including presence, abundance and density, is critical to their monitoring and management. Here we test camera trap methodologies as a monitoring tool for an extremely rare wide-ranging large felid, the critically endangered Saharan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki). Two camera trapping surveys were carried out over 2-3 months across a 2,551 km2 grid in the Ti-n-hağğen region in the Ahaggar Cultural Park, south central Algeria. A total of 32 records of Saharan cheetah were obtained. We show the behaviour and ecology of the Saharan cheetah is severely constrained by the harsh desert environment, leading them to be more nocturnal, be more wide-ranging, and occur at lower densities relative to cheetah in savannah environments. Density estimates ranged from 0.21-0.55/1,000 km2, some of the lowest large carnivore densities ever recorded in Africa, and average home range size over 2-3 months was estimated at 1,583 km2. We use our results to predict that, in order to detect presence of cheetah with p>0.95 a survey effort of at least 1,000 camera trap days is required. Our study identifies the Ahaggar Cultural Park as a key area for the conservation of the Saharan cheetah. The Saharan cheetah meets the requirements for a charismatic flagship species that can be used to "market" the Saharan landscape at a sufficiently large scale to help reverse the historical neglect of threatened Saharan ecosystems.
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Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Conceived and designed the experiments: FB NP TW SMD. Performed the experiments: FB TW ABB SMD. Analyzed the data: FB NP SMD. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: FB SMD. Wrote the paper: FB NP TW ABB SMD.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0115136