Home range and habitat use of Eastern Derby eland (Taurotragus derbianus gigas) in Chinko Project area, Central African Republic

Bc. Markéta Švejcarová

Diplomová práce

Abstract:

Animals usually do not wander randomly during their normal activities but their movement is restricted to certain area. This area presents the concept of home range and its size, shape and location vary among species and individuals. Knowledge of animals home range characteristics is essential part of their behaviour ecology. It often plays an important role in management decisions of protected areas and conservation programs, however no analysis of annual home range size for Derby eland has been published so far.Our results present the estimation based on data of four Eastern Derby elands, two males and two females collared in Chinko Project area, Central African Republic. Spatial data of each individual which were collected for twelve months have been analysed by Minimum Convex Polygon and Kernel Density Estimation methods. Size of the annual home range among the animals was minimum 306 sq km and maximum 672 sq km. High inter individual variation was observed which is not uncommon in other species.Results revealed significant seasonality in the animals movement (P < 0.05) based on minimum distance walked per month and furthemore significant difference in intensity between males and females (P < 0.05).Available telemery data offer the possibility to analyse also habitat use of the collared animals. We found the same composition of preffered habitat types among all individuals with some differences in the proportion. The habitat with absolute majority of occurrence was Open Woodland Savanna therefore we can confirm the public perception of preffered habitat of the Derby eland.

Keywords

radio collars, home range, GPS tracking, QGIS, movement

Jazyk práce: angličtina

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 27. 4. 2017

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedoucí: Ing. Karolína Brandlová, Ph.D.

Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze

Fakulta tropického zemědělství

Magisterský studijní program / obor:
Tropické zemědělství / Wildlife Management in Tropics and Subtropics