Riparian vegetation structure and the hunting behavior of adult estuarine crocodiles

PLoS One. 2017 Oct 11;12(10):e0184804. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184804. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Riparian ecosystems are amongst the most biodiverse tropical habitats. They are important, and essential, ecological corridors, linking remnant forest fragments. In this study, we hypothesised that crocodile's actively select nocturnal resting locations based on increased macaque predation potential. We examined the importance of riparian vegetation structure in the maintenance of crocodile hunting behaviours. Using airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and GPS telemetry on animal movement, we identified the repeated use of nocturnal resting sites by adult estuarine crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) throughout the fragmented Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah, Malaysia. Crocodile resting locations were found to resemble, in terms of habitat characteristics, the sleeping sites of long-tailed macaque; positioned in an attempt to avoid predation by terrestrial predators. We found individual crocodiles were actively selecting overhanging vegetation and that the protrusion of trees from the tree line was key to site selection by crocodiles, as well as influencing both the presence and group size of sleeping macaques. Although these findings are correlational, they have broad management implications, with the suggestion that riparian corridor maintenance and quality can have implications beyond that of terrestrial fauna. We further place our findings in the context of the wider ecosystem and the maintenance of trophic interactions, and discuss how future habitat management has the potential to mitigate human-wildlife conflict.

MeSH terms

  • Aging / physiology*
  • Alligators and Crocodiles / physiology*
  • Animals
  • Ecosystem
  • Estuaries*
  • Geography
  • Malaysia
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Plants*
  • Predatory Behavior / physiology*
  • Trees

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the UN Development Programme, Avatar Alliance Foundation, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, World Wildlife Fund, Morgan Family Foundation, Chester Zoo, Colombus Zoo, Danau Girang Field Centre, IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group and the Rainforest Trust. The Carnegie Airborne Observatory has been made possible by grants and donations to G.P. Asner from the Avatar Alliance Foundation, Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, W. M. Keck Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Mary Anne Nyburg Baker and G. Leonard Baker Jr, and William R. Hearst III. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.