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Lundgren EJ, Ramp D, Middleton OS, Wooster EIF, Kusch E, Balisi M, Ripple WJ, Hasselerharm CD, Sanchez JN, Mills M, Wallach AD. A novel trophic cascade between cougars and feral donkeys shapes desert wetlands. J Anim Ecol 2022; 91:2348-2357. [PMID: 35871769 PMCID: PMC10087508 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Introduced large herbivores have partly filled ecological gaps formed in the late Pleistocene, when many of the Earth's megafauna were driven extinct. However, extant predators are generally considered incapable of exerting top-down influences on introduced megafauna, leading to unusually strong disturbance and herbivory relative to native herbivores. We report on the first documented predation of juvenile feral donkeys Equus africanus asinus by cougars Puma concolor in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of North America. We then investigated how cougar predation corresponds with differences in feral donkey behaviour and associated effects on desert wetlands. Focusing on a feral donkey population in the Death Valley National Park, we used camera traps and vegetation surveys to compare donkey activity patterns and impacts between wetlands with and without cougar predation. Donkeys were primarily diurnal at wetlands with cougar predation, thereby avoiding cougars. However, donkeys were active throughout the day and night at sites without predation. Donkeys were ~87% less active (measured as hours of activity a day) at wetlands with predation (p < 0.0001). Sites with predation had reduced donkey disturbance and herbivory, including ~46% fewer access trails, 43% less trampled bare ground and 192% more canopy cover (PERMANOVA, R2 = 0.22, p = 0.0003). Our study is the first to reveal a trophic cascade involving cougars, feral equids and vegetation. Cougar predation appears to rewire an ancient food web, with diverse implications for modern ecosystems. Our results suggest that protecting apex predators could have important implications for the ecological effects of introduced megafauna.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erick J Lundgren
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.,Centre for Compassionate Conservation, TD School, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia
| | - Daniel Ramp
- Centre for Compassionate Conservation, TD School, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia
| | | | - Eamonn I F Wooster
- Centre for Compassionate Conservation, TD School, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia
| | - Erik Kusch
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Mairin Balisi
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA.,Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, Claremont, CA, USA
| | - William J Ripple
- Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Chris D Hasselerharm
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Jessica N Sanchez
- One Health Institute, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Mystyn Mills
- Department of Botany & Plant Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Arian D Wallach
- Centre for Compassionate Conservation, TD School, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia
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Tong H, Chen X, Zhang B, Rothschild B, White S, Balisi M, Wang X. Hypercarnivorous teeth and healed injuries to Canis chihliensis from Early Pleistocene Nihewan beds, China, support social hunting for ancestral wolves. PeerJ 2020; 8:e9858. [PMID: 33194358 PMCID: PMC7485486 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.9858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Accepted: 08/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Collaborative hunting by complex social groups is a hallmark of large dogs (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae), whose teeth also tend to be hypercarnivorous, specialized toward increased cutting edges for meat consumption and robust p4-m1 complex for cracking bone. The deep history of canid pack hunting is, however, obscure because behavioral evidence is rarely preserved in fossils. Dated to the Early Pleistocene (>1.2 Ma), Canis chihliensis from the Nihewan Basin of northern China is one of the earliest canines to feature a large body size and hypercarnivorous dentition. We present the first known record of dental infection in C. chihliensis, likely inflicted by processing hard food, such as bone. Another individual also suffered a displaced fracture of its tibia and, despite such an incapacitating injury, survived the trauma to heal. The long period required for healing the compound fracture is consistent with social hunting and family care (food-sharing) although alternative explanations exist. Comparison with abundant paleopathological records of the putatively pack-hunting Late Pleistocene dire wolf, Canis dirus, at the Rancho La Brea asphalt seeps in southern California, U.S.A., suggests similarity in feeding behavior and sociality between Chinese and American Canis across space and time. Pack hunting in Canis may be traced back to the Early Pleistocene, well before the appearance of modern wolves, but additional evidence is needed for confirmation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haowen Tong
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xi Chen
- Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Bei Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Bruce Rothschild
- Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America
| | - Stuart White
- School of Dentistry, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
| | - Mairin Balisi
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
| | - Xiaoming Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
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Wang X, White SC, Balisi M, Biewer J, Sankey J, Garber D, Tseng ZJ. First bone-cracking dog coprolites provide new insight into bone consumption in Borophagus and their unique ecological niche. eLife 2018; 7:34773. [PMID: 29785931 PMCID: PMC5963924 DOI: 10.7554/elife.34773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2018] [Accepted: 04/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Borophagine canids have long been hypothesized to be North American ecological 'avatars' of living hyenas in Africa and Asia, but direct fossil evidence of hyena-like bone consumption is hitherto unknown. We report rare coprolites (fossilized feces) of Borophagus parvus from the late Miocene of California and, for the first time, describe unambiguous evidence that these predatory canids ingested large amounts of bone. Surface morphology, micro-CT analyses, and contextual information reveal (1) droppings in concentrations signifying scent-marking behavior, similar to latrines used by living social carnivorans; (2) routine consumption of skeletons; (3) undissolved bones inside coprolites indicating gastrointestinal similarity to modern striped and brown hyenas; (4) B. parvus body weight of ~24 kg, reaching sizes of obligatory large-prey hunters; and (5) prey size ranging ~35-100 kg. This combination of traits suggests that bone-crushing Borophagus potentially hunted in collaborative social groups and occupied a niche no longer present in North American ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoming Wang
- Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, United States.,Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, United States.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
| | - Stuart C White
- School of Dentistry, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
| | - Mairin Balisi
- Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, United States.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, United States
| | - Jacob Biewer
- Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, United States.,Department of Geology, California State University Stanislaus, Turlock, United States
| | - Julia Sankey
- Department of Geology, California State University Stanislaus, Turlock, United States
| | - Dennis Garber
- Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, United States
| | - Z Jack Tseng
- Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, United States.,Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, United States.,Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, United States
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Balisi M, Casey C, Van Valkenburgh B. Dietary specialization is linked to reduced species durations in North American fossil canids. R Soc Open Sci 2018; 5:171861. [PMID: 29765649 PMCID: PMC5936914 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2017] [Accepted: 03/19/2018] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
How traits influence species persistence is a fundamental question in ecology, evolution and palaeontology. We test the relationship between dietary traits and both species duration and locality coverage over 40 million years in North American canids, a clade with considerable ecomorphological disparity and a dense fossil record. Because ecomorphological generalization-broad resource use-may enable species to withstand disturbance, we predicted that canids of average size and mesocarnivory would exhibit longer durations and wider distributions than specialized larger or smaller species. Second, because locality coverage might reflect dispersal ability and/or survivability in a range of habitats, we predicted that high coverage would correspond with longer durations. We find a nonlinear relationship between species duration and degree of carnivory: species at either end of the carnivory spectrum tend to have shorter durations than mesocarnivores. Locality coverage shows no relationship with size, diet or duration. To test whether generalization (medium size, mesocarnivory) corresponds to an adaptive optimum, we fit trait evolution models to previously generated canid phylogenies. Our analyses identify no single optimum in size or diet. Instead, the primary model of size evolution is a classic Cope's Rule increase over time, while dietary evolution does not conform to a single model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mairin Balisi
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Vertebrate Paleontology Department, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Author for correspondence: Mairin Balisi e-mail:
| | - Corinna Casey
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Blaire Van Valkenburgh
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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