Soultan, Alaaeldin and Nagy, Abdullah and Attum, Omar
(2021).
Midden site selection in Dorcas gazelle: Larger is not always better.
Ecology and Evolution. 11
, 13661-13667
[Research article]
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Abstract
Dorcas gazelles are believed to use middens to mark their territories and transmit information. Given the commitment to maintaining a midden, it is believed that middens are not placed randomly. We examined how the habitat (tree height and maximum canopy) and anthropogenic disturbance (camel and human presence) influenced the selection of midden sites by Dorcas gazelles in South Sinai, Egypt. Our results showed that Dorcas gazelles did not place middens at larger trees, while favoring relatively smaller trees and shrubs where the anthropogenic disturbance and perceived hunting risk are less. Our results, in light of the previous findings, suggest that selection of midden sites is species context-dependent behavior. In areas with less anthropogenic disturbance and hunting, Dorcas gazelles have been shown to select the largest trees of the same species as midden sites. In contract, in our study site with high anthropogenic disturbance and no protection from hunting, gazelles did not utilize the presumably optimum landmarks for midden sites. Our study showed that Dorcas gazelles instead utilized smaller trees and some shrubs that are less conspicuous and presumably less effective as advertisement sites, but safer.
Authors/Creators: | Soultan, Alaaeldin and Nagy, Abdullah and Attum, Omar | ||||||
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Title: | Midden site selection in Dorcas gazelle: Larger is not always better | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Ecology and Evolution | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2021 | ||||||
Volume: | 11 | ||||||
Page range: | 13661-13667 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 7 | ||||||
Publisher: | WILEY | ||||||
ISSN: | 2045-7758 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Research article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology | ||||||
Keywords: | Acacia trees, desert, Dorcas gazelle, middens | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-113811 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-113811 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 25997 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Ecology (S) > Dept. of Ecology | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 01 Nov 2021 12:25 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 01 Nov 2021 12:31 |
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