Peter StewartHad a great time sharing some of my #PhD research at #ESA2023 last week!
#Ecology #Conservation #Research #InvasiveSpecies #BiologicalInvasions #PricklyPearProjectKenya
Picked up this pair of plains zebra foraging among the prickly pear on one of our #CameraTraps
The plains zebra has much thicker stripes than the Grevy's zebra, which we also see. Another ID tip is that plains zebra have stripes on their belly, while Grevy's have a white belly.
The plains zebra is not as #endangered as the Grevy's zebra, but is still listed as #NearThreatened by the #IUCN
#Ecology #Conservation #Research #CameraTrap #TrailCam #Wildlife #Nature #PricklyPearProjectKenya
#Leopard in the night 🐆
If you want to see more great #CameraTrap photos (and be part of some cool science!), come join in with #PricklyPearProjectKenya on #Zooniverse
Link: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/peter-dot-stewart/prickly-pear-project-kenya
#CameraTraps #Ecology #Conservation #Research #Wildlife #Nature #TrailCam #InvasiveSpecies
#Elephant going for some prickly pear fruit!
This is another image from the new batch which will be making its way to #PricklyPearProjectKenya on #Zooniverse soon.
#Ecology #Conservation #Research #CameraTrap #TrailCam #Wildlife #Nature #InvasiveSpecies
If you're at #BES2022, you can pop by my poster to chat about #InvasiveSpecies, #AnimalBehaviour, and #CameraTraps (and all things #Ecology and #Conservation)!
Huge buffalo passing through - with a couple of oxpeckers hitching a lift!
#Ecology #Conservation #Research #Fieldwork #CameraTrap #TrailCam #Wildlife #Nature #PricklyPearProjectKenya #Zooniverse #Buffalo #Oxpecker
We were lucky enough to spot this extremely rare black #leopard on one of our #CameraTraps deployed at #Loisaba Conservancy.
This leopard is the same species as the more common variety (light fur with dark spots) - its colouration is due to a rare mutation, which is much more common among leopards in moist forest regions (see https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0170378 for more info).
#Ecology #Conservation #Research #CameraTrap #TrailCam #Wildlife #Nature #PricklyPearProjectKenya #Zooniverse #BlackLeopard
Mapping black panthers: Macroecological modeling of melanism in leopards (Panthera pardus)
The geographic distribution and habitat association of most mammalian polymorphic phenotypes are still poorly known, hampering assessments of their adaptive significance. Even in the case of the black panther, an iconic melanistic variant of the leopard (Panthera pardus), no map exists describing its distribution. We constructed a large database of verified records sampled across the species’ range, and used it to map the geographic occurrence of melanism. We then estimated the potential distribution of melanistic and non-melanistic leopards using niche-modeling algorithms. The overall frequency of melanism was ca. 11%, with a significantly non-random spatial distribution. Distinct habitat types presented significantly different frequencies of melanism, which increased in Asian moist forests and approached zero across most open/dry biomes. Niche modeling indicated that the potential distributions of the two phenotypes were distinct, with significant differences in habitat suitability and rejection of niche equivalency between them. We conclude that melanism in leopards is strongly affected by natural selection, likely driven by efficacy of camouflage and/or thermoregulation in different habitats, along with an effect of moisture that goes beyond its influence on vegetation type. Our results support classical hypotheses of adaptive coloration in animals (e.g. Gloger’s rule), and open up new avenues for in-depth evolutionary analyses of melanism in mammals.
Here is an area which has been heavily invaded by #PricklyPearCactus (Opuntia engelmannii) - #elephants for scale!
#Ecology #Conservation #Research #CameraTrap #TrailCam #Wildlife #Nature #PricklyPearProjectKenya #Zooniverse #Elephant #InvasiveSpecies
Sometimes #CameraTraps provide an angle which is... unique 😂
#Ecology #Conservation #Research #CameraTrap #TrailCam #Wildlife #Nature #PricklyPearProjectKenya #Zooniverse #Camel
Getting some good #frugivory observations on the #CameraTraps, like this #elephant here.
Elephants are thought to be one of the key dispersers of Opuntia seeds in the region - in heavily-invaded areas it's common to see piles of elephant dung which are stained purple by the fruit!
This image is from a new batch which will be making its way to #PricklyPearProjectKenya on #Zooniverse soon.
#Ecology #Conservation #Research #CameraTrap #TrailCam #Wildlife #Nature