Variation in herbivore space use: comparing two savanna ecosystems with different anthrax outbreak patterns in southern Africa

Background The distribution of resources can affect animal range sizes, which in turn may alter infectious disease dynamics in heterogenous environments. The risk of pathogen exposure or the spatial extent of outbreaks may vary with host range size. This study examined the range sizes of herbivorous anthrax host species in two ecosystems and relationships between spatial movement behavior and patterns of disease outbreaks for a multi-host environmentally transmitted pathogen. Methods We examined range sizes for seven host species and the spatial extent of anthrax outbreaks in Etosha National Park, Namibia and Kruger National Park, South Africa, where the main host species and outbreak sizes differ. We evaluated host range sizes using the local convex hull method at different temporal scales, within-individual temporal range overlap, and relationships between ranging behavior and species contributions to anthrax cases in each park. We estimated the spatial extent of annual anthrax morta..., We compiled movement data from GPS (Global Positioning System) collars including newly collected and previously published datasets on springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) from Etosha National Park, Namibia, impala (Aepyceros melampus) and African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) from Kruger National Park, South Africa, and greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), and plains zebra (Equus quagga) from both parks between 2006 – 2020. Newly collected data included movement datasets on kudu, wildebeest and zebra (2018–2020) in Etosha and impala and kudu in Kruger. Details of the numbers, time periods and data sources of these movement data can be found in the corresponding research paper. Because of different sampling intensities and irregular intervals of the telemetry data, we thinned the data to three readings a day for more comparable relocation data across different species and tracking periods among species. We then prepared three different datasets at ..., These files include: 1. Thinned movement datasets 2. Shapefiles for Etosha and Kruger boundaries and pains in Etosha 3. R code for analyses背景 资源分布可影响动物活动范围大小，进而改变异质环境中的传染病动态。病原体暴露风险或疫情空间波及范围可能随宿主活动范围大小发生变化。本研究针对多宿主环境传播型病原体，考察了两类生态系统中食草动物炭疽宿主的活动范围大小，以及空间移动行为与疾病暴发模式之间的关联。 方法 本研究对纳米比亚埃托沙国家公园（Etosha National Park）与南非克鲁格国家公园（Kruger National Park）内7种宿主物种的活动范围大小及炭疽疫情空间波及范围进行了考察，两处公园的主要宿主物种与疫情规模均存在差异。我们采用局部凸包法（local convex hull method）在不同时间尺度下评估宿主活动范围大小、个体内时间尺度活动范围重叠度，以及各公园内移动行为与物种对炭疽病例贡献量之间的关联。我们估算了年度炭疽死亡（原文截断）的空间范围……我们整合了来自GPS（全球定位系统，Global Positioning System）项圈的移动数据，涵盖新采集与已发表的数据集：包括纳米比亚埃托沙国家公园的跳羚（Antidorcas marsupialis）、南非克鲁格国家公园的高角羚（Aepyceros melampus）与非洲水牛（Syncerus caffer），以及2006年至2020年间两处公园内的大捻角羚（Tragelaphus strepsiceros）、蓝角马（Connochaetes taurinus）与平原斑马（Equus quagga）。新采集的数据包括埃托沙国家公园内2018年至2020年的大捻角羚、蓝角马与平原斑马的移动数据集，以及克鲁格国家公园内的高角羚与大捻角羚移动数据集。上述移动数据集的样本量、时间周期与数据来源详情可参见相关研究论文。 由于遥测数据的采样强度与记录间隔存在差异，我们将数据精简为每日3条定位记录，以实现不同物种间及各追踪周期内的重定位数据可比性。随后我们制备了三套不同的数据集于……本次提供的文件包括： 1. 精简后的移动数据集 2. 埃托沙与克鲁格国家公园边界及埃托沙境内盐沼的形状文件（Shapefiles） 3. 用于数据分析的R代码