Die ökologische Rolle der meisten Wildtier-Pathogene in Bezug zur langfristigen Populationsdynamik ihrer Wirte ist nur ansatzweise erforscht und wird deshalb nur unzureichend verstanden. Stattdessen ist die Erforschung von Infektionen mit Pathogenen oft beschränkt auf einzelne Fallstudien oder auf Perioden mit deutlich erhöhten Mortalitätsraten innerhalb der Wirtspopulation. Pathogene mit geringer Virulenz können jedoch durch synergistisches Auftreten verheerende Auswirkungen auf die Fitness ihrer Wirte haben oder sich auf wichtige individuelle lebensgeschichtliche Merkmale, wie zum Beispiel Lebensdauer oder Reproduktionserfolg, auswirken. Des Weiteren sind die Auswirkungen von Krankheitserregern auf die Populationsdynamik der Wildtiere schwer abzuschätzen, zum Beispiel wenn sie die Überlebenschancen von selten zu beobachtenden Jungtieren beeinträchtigen. Bis heute sind Untersuchungen von Infektionen mit Pathogenen und deren Auswirkungen auf Lebensgeschichten meist auf Laborstudien beschränkt, in denen Tiere unter streng definierten Bedingungen gezüchtet und gehalten werden, bzw. auf Studien an kleinen, kurzlebigen Arten wie Nagern, Vögeln und Insekten oder auf Studien an der Humanpopulation. Ziel dieser Arbeit war, die Auswirkungen von Einzel- oder Koinfektionen auf individuelle lebensgeschichtliche Schlüsselparameter sowie die Einflüsse bestimmter lebensgeschichtlicher Merkmale auf den Infektionsstatus anhand einer frei lebenden sozialen Karnivorenart, der Tüpfelhyäne Crocuta crocuta, zu untersuchen. Diese Arbeit war in eine Langzeitstudie integriert und wurde an mehreren Gruppen von Tüpfelhyänen zweier Subpopulationen durchgeführt, die im Serengeti Nationalpark sowie in dem angrenzenden Ngorongoro Krater in Tansania in Ostafrika lebten. Daten über wichtige lebensgeschichtliche Merkmale von mehreren hundert individuell bekannten Tieren in Kombination mit Daten über die wechselhafte Beuteverfügbarkeit in den Territorien der Gruppen standen hierfür zur Verfügung. Ich etablierte molekularbiologische Methoden (Polymerase Kettenreaktionen (PCRs) und Reverse Transkriptions PCRs), um eine Vielzahl an Kot-, Blut- und Gewebeproben individueller Tüpfelhyänen und sympatrisch lebender Karnivoren auf das Vorkommen von Coronaviren, Caliciviren, Hundestaupe-Viren, Parvoviren sowie eines von Zecken übertragenen Blutparasiten, Hepatozoon sp., zu untersuchen. 1 / The ecological role of most wildlife pathogens is poorly understood because pathogens are rarely studied in relation to the long-term population dynamics of wildlife hosts. Instead, pathogen infections are reported on a case basis or studies are focused on periods when pathogens cause noticeable mortality in their hosts. However, pathogens that appear to be of low virulence may also have an important effect if they operate in a synergistic fashion or affect life history parameters such as longevity or reproductive success. Furthermore, the effect of pathogens on population dynamics may be difficult to detect in wildlife, for example if they reduce the survival of young age classes that are rarely observed. Until now, research on the life history consequences of pathogen infection has mainly been confined to laboratory studies where animals are raised and kept under strictly defined conditions, or to small, short lived species such as rodents, birds or insects, as well as to human populations. The aim of this thesis was to address these problems by assessing the impact of single infections and co-infections by pathogens on key life history parameters and the influence of life history traits on infection status in a free-ranging social carnivore species, the spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta. The study was embedded in a long-term study on several clans of spotted hyenas from two subpopulations inhabiting the Serengeti National Park and the adjacent Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, East Africa. Data on key life history parameters were available for several hundred individually known animals as was information on changing levels of prey availability. I established molecular biological methods (polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) and reverse transcription PCRs) to screen an extensive set of faecal, blood and tissue samples from individually known spotted hyenas and sympatric carnivores for the presence of coronavirus, calicivirus, canine distemper virus, canine parvovirus and the tick-borne blood parasite Hepatozoon sp. to determine the prevalence of the pathogens. 1

Intraguild competition and predation have been recognised as important ecological factors influencing the population dynamics of carnivores. The effects of these interactions are often asymmetrical due to a size-related dominancy hierarchy. However, it has been suggested that competitively subordinate carnivores can minimise the costs of predation and competition through spatial and temporal avoidance. Here I investigate the ecological and behavioural mechanisms by which cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) coexist with competitively stronger lions (Panthera leo) and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta). Fieldwork was carried out in the Okavango Delta, northern Botswana, between October 2008 and August 2011. A total of 20 Global Positioning System (GPS) radio-collars were fitted on all known cheetahs (n=6), lion prides (n=5) and spotted hyaena clans (n=6) in the study area (approx. 3 000 km²). Pre-programmed radio-collars recorded locations and activity continuously for each individual and these data were complemented with direct behavioural observations. Cheetah data were analysed with respect to the temporal and spatial likelihood of encountering lions and spotted hyaenas. Results suggest that the response to the risks posed by other predators is species-specific, habitat-specific and dependent on the immediacy of the risk. Resource partitioning was not the main mechanism for coexistence as cheetahs overlapped extensively with lions and spotted hyaenas in time, space and habitat use. Instead, cheetahs adjusted their spatial distribution in response to immediate risks or adapted their habitat use depending on their vulnerability (e.g. behaviours such as feeding or with differing levels of moonlight at night). In general, cheetah temporal and spatial distribution is a hierarchal process, firstly driven by resource acquisition and thereafter fine-tuned by predator avoidance. In addition, habitat heterogeneity seemed to be key in facilitating coexistence. Understanding the behavioural mechanisms that interacting apex predators adopt to regulate these negative interactions could be crucial to carnivore conservation, especially as human-related habitat loss is forcing species into ever smaller areas.