Shifting prey selection generates contrasting herbivore dynamics within a large-mammal predator-prey web.

Shifting prey selection has been identified as a mechanism potentially regulating predator-prey interactions, but it may also lead to different outcomes, especially in more complex systems with multiple prey species available. We assessed changing prey selection by lions, the major predator for 12 large herbivore species in South Africa's Kruger National Park. The database was provided by records of found carcasses ascribed to kills by lions assembled over 70 years, coupled with counts of changing prey abundance extending over 30 years. Wildebeest and zebra constituted the most favored prey species during the early portion of the study period, while selection for buffalo rose in the south of the park after a severe drought increased their vulnerability. Rainfall had a negative influence on the proportional representation of buffalo in lion kills, but wildebeest and zebra appeared less susceptible to being killed under conditions of low rainfall. Selection by lions for alternative prey species, including giraffe, kudu, waterbuck, and warthog, was influenced by the changing relative abundance and vulnerability of the three principal prey species. Simultaneous declines in the abundance of rarer antelope species were associated with a sharp increase in selection for these species at a time when all three principal prey species were less available. Hence shifting prey selection by lions affected the dynamics of herbivore populations in different ways: promoting contrasting responses by principal prey species to rainfall variation, while apparently being the main cause of sharp declines by alternative prey species under certain conditions. Accordingly, adaptive responses by predators, to both the changing relative abundance of the principal prey species, and other conditions affecting the relative vulnerability of various species, should be taken into account to understand the interactive dynamics of multispecies predator-prey webs.

Predator-prey size relationships in an African large-mammal food web.

1. Size relationships are central in structuring trophic linkages within food webs, leading to suggestions that the dietary niche of smaller carnivores is nested within that of larger species. However, past analyses have not taken into account the differing selection shown by carnivores for specific size ranges of prey, nor the extent to which the greater carcass mass of larger prey outweighs the greater numerical representation of smaller prey species in the predator diet. Furthermore, the top-down impact that predation has on prey abundance cannot be assessed simply in terms of the number of predator species involved. 2. Records of found carcasses and cause of death assembled over 46 years in the Kruger National Park, South Africa, corrected for under-recording of smaller species, enabled a definitive assessment of size relationships between large mammalian carnivores and their ungulate prey. Five carnivore species were considered, including lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) and spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), and 22 herbivore prey species larger than 10 kg in adult body mass. 3. These carnivores selectively favoured prey species approximately half to twice their mass, within a total prey size range from an order of magnitude below to an order of magnitude above the body mass of the predator. The three smallest carnivores, i.e. leopard, cheetah and wild dog, showed high similarity in prey species favoured. Despite overlap in prey size range, each carnivore showed a distinct dietary preference. 4. Almost all mortality was through the agency of a predator for ungulate species up to the size of a giraffe (800-1200 kg). Ungulates larger than twice the mass of the predator contributed substantially to the dietary intake of lions, despite the low proportional mortality inflicted by predation on these species. Only for megaherbivores substantially exceeding 1000 kg in adult body mass did predation become a negligible cause of mortality. 5. Hence, the relative size of predators and prey had a pervasive structuring influence on biomass fluxes within this large-mammal food web. Nevertheless, the large carnivore assemblage was dominated overwhelmingly by the largest predator, which contributed the major share of animals killed across a wide size range.