Drought‐response strategies of savanna herbivores

Abstract

Abstract Climate models predict increases in drought frequency and severity worldwide, with potential impacts on diverse systems, including African savannas. These droughts pose a concern for the conservation of savanna mammal communities, such that understanding how different species respond to drought is vital. Because grass decreases so consistently during droughts, we predict that grass‐dependent species (grazers and mixed feeders) will respond strongly to drought, whether by changing diets, seeking drought refugia, or suffering mortality. A recent severe but heterogeneous drought in Kruger National Park, South Africa, afforded a rare opportunity to test these hypotheses in situ—crucial, given the central role of landscape‐scale movement as a potential herbivore strategy. We used herbivore dung as a proxy, integrating spatial distributions (dung counts) with diet composition (carbon isotope analysis of dung). As predicted, browsers showed little response to drought. However, mixed feeders switched their diets to incorporate more C3 trees/forbs, but did not move. Meanwhile, grazers and megaherbivores instead moved toward drought refugia. Synthesis and applications: The responses we observed by savanna herbivores are largely amplifications of typical dry season strategies and reflect constraints imposed by body size and feeding ecology. Grazers may be at particular risk from increased drought frequency and spatial extent if drought refugia become decreasingly available. Conservation strategies should recognize these constraints and work to facilitate the diverse responses of herbivores to drought.

Keywords

• diet switching
• drought
• drought refugia
• herbivory
• migration
• savanna