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With the growing human population, and their improving wealth, it is predicted that there will be significant increases in demand for livestock products (mainly meat and milk). Recent years have demonstrated that the growth in livestock production has generally had significant impacts on wildlife worldwide; and these are, usually, negative. Here I review the interactions between livestock and wildlife and assess the mechanisms through which these interactions occur. The review is framed within the context of the socio-ecological system whereby people are as much a part of the interaction between livestock and wildlife as the animal species themselves. I highlight areas of interaction that are mediated through effects on the forage supply (vegetation) – neutral, positive and negative – however, the review broadly analyses the impacts of livestock production activities. The evidence suggests that it is not the interaction between the species themselves but the ancillary activities associated with livestock production (e.g. land use change, removal of predators, provision of water points) that are the major factors affecting the outcome for wildlife. So in future, there are two key issues that need to be addressed – first, we need to intensify livestock production in areas of ‘intensive’ livestock production in order to reduce the pressure for land use change to meet the demand for meat (land sparing). And second, if wildlife is to survive in areas where livestock production dominates, it will have to be the people part of the socio-ecological system that sees the benefits of having wildlife co-exist with livestock on farming lands (land sharing and win-win).

The spatiotemporal differentiation within habitats plays a crucial role in shaping community diversity and coexistence mechanisms. Exploring how species with similar ecological niches coexist remains a fundamental problem in ecology. We utilized infrared camera data to study the spatiotemporal activity patterns and interspecies interactions of three wild ungulates and sympatric livestock—red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus pygargus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), and cattle (Bos taurus)—in Xinjiang Kanas National Nature Reserve, China. By applying methods such as the multi‐species occupancy model, we explored how these species achieve coexistence through spatiotemporal niche differentiation. Results show that elevation (β = 0.595), aspect (β = 2.454), and tree density (β = 2.563) were key determinants of red deer occupancy; roe deer were strongly influenced by elevation (β = 1.789), aspect (β = 2.673), and slope (β = 0.796); wild boar occupancy increased with distance to water (β = 1.652) but declined with elevation (β = −1.567); cattle preferred lower elevations (β = −1.921). All three wild ungulate species positively correlate with the seasonal grazing covariate, indicating that their activities increase in summer. Their crepuscular activity patterns moderately overlap with those of cattle. The analysis of interspecies interactions reveals that cattle have a strong negative impact on red deer and roe deer (|ORsp| = 10.608 and 11.928, respectively); by contrast, the interaction between cattle and wild boar is relatively weaker. The spatiotemporal interaction analysis indicates that there is behavioral avoidance among species. Their co‐occurrence rates range from 25.9% to 51.9%, and the observed encounter intervals are longer than expected. This study emphasizes the disruptive impact of grazing and advocates taking measures such as shortening the grazing duration, limiting the grazing area, and removing physical barriers to maintain ecosystem health. Meanwhile, it is proposed to achieve long‐term conservation through interdepartmental collaboration and the establishment of monitoring systems. This study emphasizes the disruptive impact of grazing and advocates taking measures such as shortening the grazing duration, limiting the grazing area, and removing physical barriers to maintain ecosystem health. Meanwhile, it is proposed to achieve long‐term conservation through interdepartmental collaboration and the establishment of monitoring systems.

1. African savannas are complex socio-ecological systems with diverse wild and domestic herbivore assemblages, which adapt spatially to intra-and interannual variation in forage quantity and quality, predation and disease risks. 2. As African savannas become increasingly fragmented by growing human populations and their associated ecological impacts, adaptive foraging options for wild and domestic herbivore populations are correspondingly limited, resulting in declining wildlife populations and impoverished pastoral societies. In addition, competition for grazing by expanding domestic herbivore populations threatens the viability of wild herbivore populations occupying similar grazing niches. 3. Conservation initiatives are further impacted by conflicts between wildlife and local communities of people who often receive little benefit from adjacent protected areas, creating conflict between the livelihood-orientated goals of communities and the conservation-oriented goals of the international community and those with vested interests in wildlife. Conservation strategies facilitating the alignment of these opposing goals of communities and conservationists are needed. 4. Synthesis and applications. Key to understanding facultative and competitive interactions between wild and domestic herbivores are the concepts of niche differentiation and functional resource heterogeneity. Uncontrolled incursions of burgeoning domestic herbivore populations into protected areas (PAs) threaten the conservation of wild herbivore biodiversity. However, domestic herbivores can be managed to minimize competition with wild herbivores and to enhance habitat by maximizing grassland structural heterogeneity (greater adaptive foraging options), creation of nutrient hotspots in the landscape and facilitation of high-quality grazing. Ecosystem service benefits to communities through controlled access to grazing resources in PAs, associated with appropriate disease management, can provide a conservation payment to promote communities' support of conservation of key wildlife migratory ranges and corridors outside PAs.

African savannas are complex socio‐ecological systems with diverse wild and domestic herbivore assemblages, which adapt spatially to intra‐ and interannual variation in forage quantity and quality, predation and disease risks. As African savannas become increasingly fragmented by growing human populations and their associated ecological impacts, adaptive foraging options for wild and domestic herbivore populations are correspondingly limited, resulting in declining wildlife populations and impoverished pastoral societies. In addition, competition for grazing by expanding domestic herbivore populations threatens the viability of wild herbivore populations occupying similar grazing niches. Conservation initiatives are further impacted by conflicts between wildlife and local communities of people who often receive little benefit from adjacent protected areas, creating conflict between the livelihood‐orientated goals of communities and the conservation‐oriented goals of the international community and those with vested interests in wildlife. Conservation strategies facilitating the alignment of these opposing goals of communities and conservationists are needed. Synthesis and applications. Key to understanding facilitative and competitive interactions between wild and domestic herbivores are the concepts of niche differentiation and functional resource heterogeneity. Uncontrolled incursions of burgeoning domestic herbivore populations into protected areas (PAs) threaten the conservation of wild herbivore biodiversity. However, domestic herbivores can be managed to minimize competition with wild herbivores and to enhance habitat by maximizing grassland structural heterogeneity (greater adaptive foraging options), creation of nutrient hotspots in the landscape and facilitation of high‐quality grazing. Ecosystem service benefits to communities through controlled access to grazing resources in PAs, associated with appropriate disease management, can provide a conservation payment to promote communities’ support of conservation of key wildlife migratory ranges and corridors outside PAs.

Israel’s Mediterranean biogeographical region is characterized by high habitat diversity and stark seasonal changes in forage composition, availability and quality. Managers of protected areas in this region advocate livestock ranching to mitigate fire risk and enhance conservation merits. However, competition between livestock and endangered, native ungulates in these areas might impair their functioning as refugia. We used fecal DNA metabarcoding to study the diets of native mountain gazelles ( Gazella gazella ) and domestic cattle ( Bos taurus ), in two nature reserves with distinct vegetation types (shrubland vs grassland), and during different seasons. Dietary overlap was ubiquitously low, and seasonal changes in the diets of both ungulates translated into differences in their dietary overlap, with the highest overlap found in grassland during winter. This generally low overlap may be attributed to the extreme differences in their body size or may also result from long-lasting sympatry of gazelles and cattle – first wild and later domesticated—shaping a robust dietary separation. Yet, since cattle biomass is typically much higher than gazelles’, a low dietary overlap in key food items of gazelles may result in their depletion which might negatively affect gazelles, especially during the fawning season and drought years. Our results highlight the need to cover diverse conditions when studying herbivore dietary composition and overlap.

While both human and animal trypanosomiasis continue to present as major human and animal public health constraints globally, detailed analyses of trypanosome wildlife reservoir hosts remain sparse. African animal trypanosomiasis (AAT) affects both livestock and wildlife carrying a significant risk of spillover and cross-transmission of species and strains between populations. Increased human activity together with pressure on land resources is increasing wildlife–livestock–human infections. Increasing proximity between human settlements and grazing lands to wildlife reserves and game parks only serves to exacerbate zoonotic risk. Communities living and maintaining livestock on the fringes of wildlife-rich ecosystems require to have in place methods of vector control for prevention of AAT transmission and for the treatment of their livestock. Major Trypanosoma spp. include Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, and Trypanosoma cruzi, pathogenic for humans, and Trypanosoma vivax, Trypanosoma congolense, Trypanosoma evansi, Trypanosoma brucei brucei, Trypanosoma dionisii, Trypanosoma thomasbancrofti, Trypanosma elephantis, Trypanosoma vegrandis, Trypanosoma copemani, Trypanosoma irwini, Trypanosoma copemani, Trypanosoma gilletti, Trypanosoma theileri, Trypanosoma godfreyi, Trypansoma simiae , and Trypanosoma (Megatrypanum) pestanai . Wildlife hosts for the trypansomatidae include subfamilies of Bovinae, Suidae, Pantherinae, Equidae, Alcephinae, Cercopithecinae, Crocodilinae, Pteropodidae, Peramelidae, Sigmodontidae, and Meliphagidae. Wildlife species are generally considered tolerant to trypanosome infection following centuries of coexistence of vectors and wildlife hosts. Tolerance is influenced by age, sex, species, and physiological condition and parasite challenge. Cyclic transmission through Glossina species occurs for T. congolense, T. simiae, T. vivax, T. brucei , and T. b. rhodesiense, T. b. gambiense , and within Reduviid bugs for T. cruzi. T. evansi is mechanically transmitted, and T. vixax is also commonly transmitted by biting flies including tsetse. Wildlife animal species serve as long-term reservoirs of infection, but the delicate acquired balance between trypanotolerance and trypanosome challenge can be disrupted by an increase in challenge and/or the introduction of new more virulent species into the ecosystem. There is a need to protect wildlife, animal, and human populations from the infectious consequences of encroachment to preserve and protect these populations. In this review, we explore the ecology and epidemiology of Trypanosoma spp. in wildlife.

ContextLivestock grazing is one of the most widespread types of anthropogenic land use, even occurs in many protected areas and has become a threat to wildlife worldwide. Understanding livestock-wildlife interactions is crucial for rare large carnivores conservation. In China, free-ranging cattle within forests degrade the habitat of the tigers (Panthera tigris) and leopards (Panthera pardus), but quantitative assessments of how livestock affect the spatial and temporal use by the major ungulate prey of the two endangered felids are very limited.ObjectivesThis study aimed to examine the interactions of several sympatric wildlife species with livestock at a fine spatiotemporal scale in a human-dominated forest landscape.MethodsBased on a large-scale camera-trapping data across the China-Russia border, we used N-mixture models, two-species occupancy models and activity pattern overlap to understand the effects of cattle grazing on three ungulate species (sika deer Cervus nippon, wild boars Sus scrofa and roe deer Capreolus pygargus).ResultsSpatially, with cattle activity increasing, wild boar and roe deer had different degrees of decline in the intensity of habitat use. Sika deer were displaced as more cattle encroached on forest habitat. Temporally, in the presence of cattle, wild boar and sika deer decreased their activities in the day. In addition, three wild ungulates trend to exhibit lower spatiotemporal overlap with cattle at shared camera sites.ConclusionsOur study shows that wildlife species may reduce the probability of habitat use by spatial avoidance and changing the daily activity patterns. We underscore that fine-scale (i.e. camera-site level) spatiotemporal avoidance is likely a key component of co-occurrence between livestock and the sympatry of competing ungulates inhabiting forest ecosystems. Given prey were depressed, efforts to minimize the livestock disturbance on these species need to be considered to ensure their sustained recoveries.

Livestock interactions with wildlife have been a concern for managers historically. Invasive feral swine represent an additional management concern in the realm of resource competition as well as zoonotic disease spread between livestock and wildlife. Our study deployed game cameras on a ranch in the Rolling Plains of North Texas to obtain a better understanding of the possibility of interspecies interactions among cattle, feral swine, and white-tailed deer across spatial, temporal, and seasonal variables. Species’ use of bottomlands, shallow uplands, and deep uplands within the ranch were monitored continuously over the course of a year. Cattle and feral swine exhibited high diel activity overlap with the greatest overlap estimates occurring in bottomlands (Δ = 0.889) and wintertime (Δ = 0.875). Cattle and deer exhibited lower diel overlap (Δ = 0.596–0.836, depending on the season and vegetation type), which could be a sign of niche partitioning between the two ungulates. Image captures and overlap estimates suggest interactions between cattle and the other two species occur less frequently in shallow upland sites relative to the other vegetation types. Though image captures of the three species were 17–69% lower in summer relative to fall, indirect interactions may remain high due to competition for shared resources and greater reliance on watering sites. Results suggest that land managers should focus on bottomland sites for feral swine eradication efforts and as areas of increased contact among species. Results can be used to guide livestock and wildlife management and herd health decisions, which can improve ranch economic, environmental, and social sustainability.

1. Prescribed burning is used in tropical savannas to improve habitat conditions for domestic and wild herbivores, but its effects on the ecological interactions between these herbivore guilds have never been assessed experimentally. Understanding such effects will contribute towards more informed management of both guilds in landscapes where they share habitats. 2. We investigated the effects of burning on the nutritional outcomes for cattle sharing habitat with wildlife in a Kenyan savanna ecosystem. We compared forage availability and cattle forage and nutrient intake rates across burned and unburned areas cattle accessed exclusively, and those they shared with medium-sized wild ungulates, both with and without megaherbivores (elephants and giraffes). We performed these measurements in May 2013 (wet period, 2 months post-burning) and February 2014 (dry period, 11 months post-burning). Additionally, we monitored wildlife use of these areas. 3. Prescribed burning enhanced cattle nutrition, but only in areas cattle did not share with wildlife. Shared foraging with wildlife reduced cattle forage and nutrient intake rates by 37-97% in burned areas (burns), but not in unburned areas; these reductions corresponded with reduced herbage availability in the shared burns. 4. In May (the wet period), cattle met their nutrient intake requirements in burns, regardless of whether they were sharing these areas with wildlife. However, in February (the dry period), nutrient requirements were unmet or tended to be unmet in burns shared with wildlife; requirements were met or significantly exceeded in the unshared burns. 5. Experimental exclusion of megaherbivores did not moderate these effects, suggesting that they were primarily caused by medium-sized wild ungulates which were highly attracted to burns. 6. Synthesis and applications. Prescribed burning produces negative nutritional outcomes for cattle when sharing habitat with wild ungulates. Because these effects could negatively influence livestock-wildlife coexistence, burning should be applied prudently in such human-occupied savanna landscapes. Specifically, because unburned areas serve as refuge foraging areas during the dry season, interspersing burns with unburned areas could minimize fire-driven negative interactions between cattle and wild ungulates. Conversely, burning could be used to draw wildlife away from valuable cattle foraging areas, such as those near available water.

Between 2005 and 2006, a cross-sectional survey was carried out in domestic ruminants in agropastoral communities of Serengeti district, Tanzania to determine the seroprevalence of brucellosis in domestic–wildlife interface villages. Both the Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) and Competitive Enzyme Linked-immunosorbent Assay (c-ELISA) were used to analyse 82 human and 413 livestock sera from four randomly selected villages located along game reserve areas of Serengeti National Park. Although both cattle (288) and small ruminants (125) were screened, seropositivity was detected only in cattle. The overall seroprevalence based on c-ELISA as a confirmatory test was 5.6%. In cattle both age and sex were not statistically associated with brucellosis seropositivity (P = 0.63; 95% CI = 0.03, 0.8 and 0.33; 95% CI = 0.6, 3.7, respectively). Overall herd level seropositivity was 46.7% (n = 7), ranging from 25% to 66.7% (n = 4–10). Each village had at least one brucellosis seropositive herd. None of the 82 humans tested with both RBPT and c-ELISA were seropositive. Detecting Brucella infection in cattle in such areas warrants further investigation to establish the circulating strains for eventual appropriate control interventions in domestic animals.