Response of dholes to prey availability and human disturbance in space and time in Southern India.

Understanding spatial and temporal behavior of large carnivores is critical to developing conservation strategies that mitigate the limiting factors of prey availability and human disturbance. Dholes (Cuon alpinus) are endangered, pack-living canids persisting in tropical forests of Asia, yet significant knowledge gaps remain about their basic ecology. We estimated spatial occurrence and temporal activity of dholes relative to prey availability, anthropogenic disturbance, and landscape features using camera traps in two protected areas in Southern India. Estimated detection probability of dholes was 0.14 (95 % CI: 0.11, 0.18), while estimated occupancy probability was 0.33 (95 % CI: 0.26, 0.40). Prey availability was the strongest driver of spatial occurrence of dholes, followed by multiple measures of human disturbance. Dholes responded to human activity and human infrastructure differently in space and time, which appeared to free them to overlap with their primary prey. Dholes avoided roads spatially, avoided livestock in space and time, and avoided human activity temporally. Dholes exhibited high temporal overlap with chital, barking deer, and wild pig activity, which are likely important prey. We recommend regulating livestock presence within protected areas and limiting new road development within habitat occupied by endangered species. A proposed reservoir project to create drinking water and electricity would inundate important forested habitat for dholes along the River Cauvery where occupancy was high. This removal of habitat would significantly impact dhole presence in this landscape. Our findings advance understanding of behavioral responses by an understudied, endangered large carnivore to its primary limiting factors: prey and human disturbance. • We estimated occupancy and temporal activity of an understudied, endangered species. • Prey availability was a stronger driver of dhole occurrence than human disturbance. • Dholes responded differently to human activity and infrastructure in space and time. • Livestock and roads have strong negative impacts on dhole occurrence. • Our results clarify behavioral responses of dholes to their key limiting factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]