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Quantifying water requirements of African ungulates through a combination of functional traits
Ecological Monographs ( IF 7.1 ) Pub Date : 2020-02-26 , DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1404
Emilian S. Kihwele 1, 2 , Victor Mchomvu 2 , Norman Owen‐Smith 3 , Robyn S. Hetem 3 , Matthew C. Hutchinson 4 , Arjun B. Potter 4 , Han Olff 1 , Michiel P. Veldhuis 1, 4, 5
Affiliation  

Climate and land use change modify surface water availability in African savannas. Surface water is a key resource for both wildlife and livestock and its spatial and temporal distribution is important for understanding the composition of large herbivore assemblages in savannas. Yet, the extent to which ungulate species differ in their water requirements remains poorly quantified. Here, we infer the water requirements of 48 African ungulates by combining six different functional traits related to physiological adaptations to reduce water loss, namely minimum dung moisture, relative dung pellet size, relative surface area of the distal colon, urine osmolality, relative medullary thickness, and evaporation rate. In addition, we investigated how these differences in water requirements relate to differences in dietary water intake. We observed strong correlations between traits related to water loss through dung, urine and evaporation, suggesting that ungulates minimize water loss through multiple pathways simultaneously, which suggests that each trait can thus be used independently to predict water requirements. Furthermore, we found that browsers and grazers had similar water requirements, but browsers are expected to be less dependent on surface water because they acquire more water through their diet. We conclude that these key functional traits are a useful way to determine differences in water requirements and an important tool for predicting changes in herbivore community assembly resulting from changes in surface water availability.

中文翻译:

通过功能性特征量化非洲有蹄类动物的需水量

气候和土地利用的变化改变了非洲大草原的地表水供应。地表水是野生动植物和牲畜的重要资源,其时空分布对于了解热带稀树草原大型食草动物组合的组成非常重要。但是,有蹄类动物的需水量差异程度仍然很差。在这里,我们通过结合与生理适应有关的六个不同功能特征来减少水分损失,从而推断出48只非洲有蹄类动物的需水量,即最小的粪便水分,相对的粪便颗粒大小,远端结肠的相对表面积,尿渗透压,相对髓质厚度和蒸发速率。此外,我们调查了这些水分需求差异如何与饮食水摄入量差异相关。我们观察到与通过粪便,尿液和蒸发引起的水分流失相关的性状之间有很强的相关性,表明有蹄类动物同时通过多种途径将水分流失最小化,这表明每个性状因此可以独立用于预测需水量。此外,我们发现浏览器和放牧者对水的需求相似,但是由于浏览器会通过饮食获取更多的水,因此它们对地表水的依赖性较低。我们得出的结论是,这些关键功能性状是确定水需求差异的有用方法,并且是预测由地表水可利用性变化导致的草食动物群落组装变化的重要工具。提示有蹄类动物可以同时通过多种途径减少水的流失,这表明每个性状可以因此独立用于预测需水量。此外,我们发现浏览器和放牧者对水的需求相似,但是由于浏览器通过饮食获取更多的水,因此它们对地表水的依赖性较低。我们得出的结论是,这些关键功能性状是确定水需求差异的有用方法,并且是预测由地表水可利用性变化导致的草食动物群落组装变化的重要工具。提示有蹄类动物可以同时通过多种途径减少水的流失,这表明每个性状可以因此独立用于预测需水量。此外,我们发现浏览器和放牧者对水的需求相似,但是由于浏览器会通过饮食获取更多的水,因此它们对地表水的依赖性较低。我们得出的结论是,这些关键功能性状是确定水需求差异的有用方法,并且是预测由地表水可利用性变化导致的草食动物群落组装变化的重要工具。但是浏览器有望减少对地表水的依赖,因为它们会通过饮食来获取更多的水。我们得出结论,这些关键的功能性状是确定水需求差异的有用方法,并且是预测由地表水可利用性变化导致的草食动物群落组装变化的重要工具。但是浏览器有望减少对地表水的依赖,因为它们会通过饮食来获取更多的水。我们得出结论,这些关键的功能性状是确定水需求差异的有用方法,并且是预测由地表水可利用性变化导致的草食动物群落组装变化的重要工具。
更新日期:2020-02-26
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