I have a number of leopard scat samples taken in and stored in South Africa, is there anyone interested in analysing the contents?

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Graham I. H. Kerley

Hi Tara

We may be able to help, depending on the intended outcome and the sample design. Can you please clarify?

Regards

Graham

Tara Pirie

I hope was hoping the prey eaten by the leopard would be possible to identify from the samples either wild or domestic.

María C. Fàbregas

Hi Tara,

As Graham say, we would need a bit more info to see how to assist.

Thanks,

Maria

Coral Birss

Do you have locality data for where the samples were collected?

I have GPS coordinates for all samples taken and dates they were found as well as images for each sample before we collected the samples. I would like to determine if there are particular wild prey species the leopards are eating in my study area and if there are any livestock species.

Ali Turk Qashqaei

Dear Tara

If you have enough samples (>30) from different seasons, you can calculate:

Percentage frequency of occurrence for each consumed item.

Volume percentage for each consumed item.

Weight percentage for each consumed item.

Importance value percentage for each consumed item.

Maximum, minimum and mean prey item numbers in scats for each season or different areas.

Food niche breadth for each season or different areas, by Shannon-Wiener index: Hʹ= -ΣPi ln(Pi), 0 ≤ Hʹ ≤∞

Richness of prey items for each season or different areas, by Margalef’s index: M=(S-1)/ln N, 0 ≤ M ≤∞

Evenness of prey items for each season or different areas, by Pielou’s index: J=Hʹ/ln S, 0 ≤ J ≤1

If you need any help on calculation: I’m in, because I’m in far away.

Sincerely

Also, you can assess ratio of conflict between leopard and human by calculating percentages (frequency, volume and weight percentage) for wild and domestic preys, separately.

Ali

Nikki le Roex

How many samples do you have?

I am very interested in being involved with this work, and I have some experience with DNA extraction from scat samples.

Please message me through my RG profile (they don't seem to like us posting email addresses) if you're interested in talking further - I am at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town.

Kind regards,

Nikki