Space partitioning in wild, non-territorial mountain gorillas: the impact of food and neighbours

In territorial species, the distribution of neighbours and food abundance play a crucial role in space use patterns but less is known about how and when neighbours use shared areas in non-territorial species. We investigated space partitioning in 10 groups of wild, non-territorial mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei). Using location data, we examined factors influencing daily movement decisions and calculated the per cent overlap of annual kernel home ranges and core areas among neighbours. We found that the probability that a group chose an area was positively influenced by both food availability and the previous use of that area by the group. Additionally, groups reduced their overall utilization of areas previously used by neighbouring groups. Lastly, groups used their core areas more exclusively than their home ranges. In sum, our results show that both foraging needs and avoidance of competition with neighbours determined the gorillas' daily movement decisions, which presu...在领地性物种中，邻近种群的分布与食物丰度对其空间利用模式起着至关重要的作用，但目前针对非领地性物种的邻近种群如何、何时共享活动区域的相关研究仍较为匮乏。本研究以10群野生非领地性山地大猩猩（Gorilla beringei beringei）为研究对象，对其空间分区行为展开了调查。本研究通过定位数据，分析了影响山地大猩猩每日移动决策的各类因素，并计算了邻近种群间年度核密度家域（kernel home ranges）与核心活动区的重叠百分比。研究结果显示，种群选择某一区域的概率，同时受到食物可获得性以及该种群此前对该区域利用情况的正向影响。此外，种群会降低对邻近种群此前已利用区域的整体利用强度。最后，相较于家域范围，种群对核心活动区的利用排他性更强。综上，本研究结果表明，山地大猩猩的每日移动决策同时受到觅食需求与规避邻近种群竞争的双重驱动，这一结果预示着……