Sex-specific indicators of landscape use by servals: Consequences of living in fragmented landscapes

The conversion of wetlands and its associated habitat for farming, residential development and commercial purposes has led to many small disconnected patches of native vegetation surrounded by generally inhospitable human altered land uses. Such human interventions pose a serious threat to the survival of wetland dependent indicator species such as the serval (Leptailurus serval) in the Drakensberg Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. To address the effects of habitat fragmentation on serval space use we used GPS fixes of collared individuals for 100 days between May 2013 and January 2014. We tracked five females and eleven male servals with GPS-UHF collars. Fragmentation indices at the class level (wetland, forest with bushland, grassland and cropland) were measured within the collared serval's minimum convex polygon area (MCP) of home range. Serval use points and fragmentation indices were extracted to each sub-landscape unit of 2 km2 falling within the MCP home range. The response of serval population to fragmentation indices was analyzed using generalized linear models at three levels: male, female and the overall population. We found that core area of wetland positively explained landscape use by servals. Effects of forest core area, forest proximity and patch richness were important for landscape use by male servals. Male and female serval use declined with increase in complex shapes of forest and grassland, wetland clumpiness for females and overall, and cropland patches for servals overall. Our results showed that wetland is a key determinant for the survival of male and female servals in fragmented landscapes therefore effective conservation of serval population demands adequate viable native habitat.