Ecology of community reassembly: Movements and diets of megafauna during a decade of restoration in Mozambique

This dataset documents large-herbivore movement, morphology, condition, fate, and diet during community reassembly in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique (2013–2023), following megafaunal declines during civil war and subsequent restoration, including apex predator reintroductions beginning in 2018. The study period spans substantial interannual climatic variability, including extreme wet and dry years.

The movement dataset comprises GPS telemetry records from 277 individuals across seven herbivore species (Cape bushbuck, nyala, greater kudu, common eland, waterbuck, plains zebra, and African elephant), with median monitoring durations ranging from 13 to 707 days and median location counts per individual ranging from 1,171 to 33,122 fixes. For 302 immobilized individuals, we provide morphological measurements (chest girth, body length, hind-foot length, body mass), reproductive and nutritional condition metrics (ultrasound measurements, palpation scores), and fate data (mortality date and cause, when known).

The diet dataset includes DNA metabarcoding results from 3,785 fecal samples collected from 27 mammal species (11 families, 7 orders), identifying 516 food-plant taxa representing at least 87 families and 39 orders. Sample sizes per species range from 1 to 499 (median = 92), with larger sample sizes for dominant large herbivores (median = 216).

All datasets include associated field metadata (date, time, location, sex, age), laboratory notes, and plant taxonomic information. In addition, filtering scripts and raw data are provided, facilitating alternative filtering approaches. These data support analyses of movement ecology, trophic interactions, nutritional ecology, and large-mammal community reassembly under restoration and climatic variability.