Individual variation in isotopic niche spaceof grazing and browsing desert ungulates

Lehmann D1*. Mfune J.K.E2. Gewers E3. Brain C4. & Voigt C.C1

1Department of Evolutionary Ecology.Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research. Berlin 10315 Germany

2University of Namibia (UNAM).Department of Biological Sciences. Windhoek 13301Namibia

3Torra community-based conservancy office.Kunene region.Bergsig 462 Namibia

4Wilderness Safaris Namibia. Windhoek 6850 Namibia

* Corresponding author:

Key words: Desert; resources availability; individual isotopic niche space; dietary strategy.spatialbehaviour.tail hair; stable isotope analyses; NDVI values; Oryx g. gazella; Antidorcasmarsupialis; Kunene; Namibia.

Author Contributions: DL.JKE. CB and CCV developed the original idea. DL. EG and CB established logistic. DL and EG conducted fieldwork. DL analyzed the data. DL. JKE and CCV wrote the manuscript.

Electronic Supplementary Materials:

Table S1: The identity of distinct groups sampled.their respective sizes and locations are reported besides individual sex for a) gemsbok and b) springbok.

a)Gemsbok / Group / Group-size / Location / Female (n) / Male (n)
Ag / 30 / Spaarwater / 3 / 0
Bg / 1 / Jebico / 0 / 1
Cg / 3 / Spaarwater / 0 / 1
Dg / 15 / Driefontein / 0 / 1
Eg / 13 / Zinkfontein / 2 / 1
Fg / 2 / Spaarwater / 0 / 1
Gg / 2 / Spaarwater / 0 / 2
Hg / 2 / CollinsRoadSpring / 0 / 2
Ig / 15 / CollinsRoadSpring / 1 / 1
b)Springbok / As / 120 / Driefontein / 4 / 2
Bs / 25 / Jebico / 1 / 1
Cs / 18 / Zinkfontein / 1 / 1
Ds / 1 / CollinsRoadSpring / 0 / 1
Es / 12 / CollinsRoadSpring / 1 / 1
Fs / 150 / CollinsRoadSpring / 1 / 3
Gs / 30 / Zinkfontein / 2 / 0
Hs / 25 / Jebico / 0 / 1
Is / 25 / Spaarwater / 0 / 1
Js / 90 / CollinsRoadSpring / 3 / 1
Ks / 10 / Zinkfontein / 0 / 1
Ls / 25 / Spaarwater / 0 / 4
a) Gemsbok / Fixed factors / Random factors / AIC / ΔAIC
Carbon / Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1791.9 / 0
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) + Sex / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1793.8 / 1.9
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI)+ GroupSize / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1793.9 / 2
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) + Sex + GroupSize / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1795.8 / 3.9
1 / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1797.7 / 5.8
Nitrogen / Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) + GroupSize / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1361.2 / 0
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1361.5 / 0.3
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) + Sex / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1362.9 / 1.7
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) + Sex + GroupSize / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1363.1 / 1.9
1 / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1367.1 / 5.9
b) Springbok
Carbon / Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1555.8 / 0
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI)+ GroupSize / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1556 / 0.2
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) + Sex / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1556.7 / 0.9
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) + Sex + GroupSize / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1557.1 / 1.3
1 / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1563.2 / 7.4
Nitrogen / Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1388.7 / 0
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) + Sex / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1390.2 / 1.5
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) + Sex + GroupSize / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1391.1 / 2.4
1 / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1457.6 / 68.9
Mean_NDVI + (Residual_NDVI-Mean_NDVI) + GroupSize / (1|Location/GroupID/ID) / 1556.7 / 168

Table S2:List of candidate linear mixed effect models for the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of individual tail hairs for a) gemsbok and b) springbok.The best supported models according to the AICcriterion are reported in front row for each isotope of each species.

Table S3: Summary of the SEAc areas (‰2) of gemsbok a) and springbok b) individuals during periods of low (NDVI-) and high (NDVI+) primary productivity. Significant differences are given by SIMPER pairwise comparison (*p < 0.05.**p < 0.01.***p < 0.001).

a) Gemsbok / NDVI- SEAc / NDVI+ SEAc / SIMPER (p)
1.3 / 1.2 / 0.42
1.4 / 2.3 / 0.75
2.4 / 0.9 / 0.01 **
1.6 / 1.2 / 0.24
6.1 / 1.9 / 0.01 **
2.4 / 0.8 / 0.02 *
1.5 / 0.8 / 0.12
1.5 / 0.7 / 0.10
1.6 / 2.0 / 0.49
0.7 / 1.5 / 0.82
1.7 / 0.8 / 0.09
2.2 / 0.9 / 0.03 *
4.9 / 1.4 / 0.01 **
2.3 / 1.9 / 0.31
0.8 / 1.8 / 0.87
2.3 / 3.3 / 0.74
b) Springbok / 0.3 / 0.9 / 0.40
8.4 / 0.7 / 0.004 ***
1.3 / 0.1 / 0.09
1.6 / 0.8 / 0.02 *
1.7 / 3.6 / 0.53
2.0 / 1.0 / 0.12
2.1 / 1.2 / 0.16
2.2 / 2.1 / 0.14
3.1 / 1.9 / 0.23
0.4 / 0.6 / 0.55
0.6 / 5.4 / 0.90
1.5 / 0.3 / 0.055
0.5 / 0.7 / 0.18
0.5 / 0.4 / 0.16
4.0 / 1.0 / 0.01 **
0.4 / 1.0 / 0.38
4.7 / 3.5 / 0.40
2.9 / 0.2 / 0.03 *
7.5 / 2.1 / 0.11
2.2 / 0.4 / 0.09
3.1 / 0.5 / 0.04 *
0.8 / 1.0 / 0.62
0.5 / 0.3 / 0.23
3.5 / 0.1 / 0.02 *
1.3 / 0.3 / 0.13
10.3 / 0 / 0.26
0.9 / 0 / 0.67
5.0 / 0 / 0.07
0.6 / 0 / 0.46
2.1 / 0 / 0.50

Figure S1: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in tail hair increments of 16 gemsbok (A, B) and 30 springbok (C, D) in relation to day of year (day, month) when corresponding tail increments grew. Tail hairs were cut into 1-cm pieces and converted into the retrospective time period by assuming species-specific growth rates. Sequences of male individuals are represented by full lines, those of females by dotted lines. Raw isotopic data were corrected for diet-tissue discrimination factor. NDVI values are plotted for reference. NDVI records represent the variations in plant primary productivity in the general geographic region over the length of time represented by the hair isotope record. The two marked picks in NDVI values occurred after rainfall events. Each pick represents an increase in plant green growth while low NDVI values represent drought times, when the vegetation growth is minimal or null.

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