Predator biomass, prey biomass landcover and climate data from spotted hyaena and lion sites in Africa

The spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta Erxleben) and the lion (Panthera leo Linnaeus) are two of the most abundant and charismatic large mammalian carnivores in Africa and yet both are experiencing declining populations and significant pressures from environmental change. However, with few exceptions, most studies have focused on influences upon spotted hyaena and lion populations within individual sites, rather than synthesising data from multiple locations. This has impeded the identification of over-arching trends behind the changing biomass of these large predators.

Using Partial Least Squares regression models, influences upon population biomass were therefore investigated, focusing upon prey biomass, temperature, precipitation and vegetation cover. Additionally, as both species are in competition with one other for food, the influence of competition and evidence of environmental partitioning were assessed.

Our results indicate that spotted hyaena biomass is more strongly influe...