CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 63Wildlife Ecology and ConservationAnimal Ecology and Behavior StudiesRangeland and Wildlife Management

Modelling wildebeest population dynamics: implications of predation and harvesting in a closed system

Open access
TAMBLING, CRAIG J., DU TOIT, JOHAN T.·2005·Journal of Applied Ecology
DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01039.x
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Summary Predation upon ungulates is generally considered to have a stronger regulatory effect on sedentary than migratory populations, with migratory populations maintaining higher densities. The blue wildebeest Connochaetus taurinus is a migratory species that has suffered a general decline in numbers and distribution across its species range. Wildebeest suffer from a fragmented distribution together with isolation of populations in closed reserves, preventing migratory movements and potentially allowing predators to benefit from a ‘captive’ prey resource. In Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa, the declining blue wildebeest population (from 1074 in 1995 to 594 in 2001) is sedentary because the park (50 000 ha) is completely enclosed by fencing. This population was used to model the potential effects of predation and harvesting. The Pilanesberg population was then compared with other wildebeest populations in southern Africa. The model outputs demonstrated that increased levels of predation by lions Panthera leo on a ‘captive’ population of prey such as wildebeest, in combination with regular harvesting by park managers, can drive the population towards extinction. At lower levels of predation some other factor needs to act in combination with predation to drive the population into a decline. During our study the lion biomass density in Pilanesberg was almost three times greater than that predicted by regression models of the stable relationship between lion and prey biomass densities across African savannas. Furthermore, the ratio of lion numbers to prey numbers was substantially higher than in most other African reserves. Synthesis and applications. In African savannas, artificial closed systems provide advantages to large predators. If wildlife‐cropping schemes are implemented in such systems without careful monitoring and regulation of large predators, then ungulate populations can decline more rapidly than managers expect.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01039.x

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Maintaining or restoring self-sustaining predator-prey relationships is challenging, especially within protected areas.

    “Yet, maintaining or restoring predator-prey relationships that are self-sustaining is challenging [6,7], especially within protected areas, which rarely encompass entire, self-sustaining ecosystems [8,9].”

    From Effects of Vegetation Structure on the Location of Lion Kill Sites in African Thicket (2016) · cites this paper as [6]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 46 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
TAMBLING, C. J., & DU TOIT, J. T.
Affiliations
University of Pretoria (ZA)
Corresponding author
TAMBLING, CRAIG J.
ORCID
TAMBLING, CRAIG J.
Venue
Journal of Applied Ecology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2005-06
Volume
42
Issue
3
Pages
431-441
ISSN
  • 0021-8901 (ISSN-L)
  • 1365-2664
DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01039.x
OpenAlex
W2103975447
Cited by
63
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 7
FWCI
2.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 8 d)
Locations
  • Journal of Applied Ecology (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Commons - USU (Utah State University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Research Foundation
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Rangeland and Wildlife Management
Keywords
blue wildebeest, population dynamics, predation, lion predation, lion, wildlife harvesting, migratory ungulates, population decline (ecology), extinction risk, African savanna

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review