Anthropogenic impact on wildlife resource use: Spatial and temporal shifts in elephants’ access to water

Expansion of human settlements and development have undeniable impacts on wildlife and habitats. Yet wildlife continues to persist in human‐modified environments. While shifting patterns of wildlife landscape use in response to development is well established, less is known about how risk avoidance by animals impacts their resource access. Our research addresses this question by assessing spatial and temporal patterns in access to water resources for savannah elephants ( Loxodonta africana ) relative to anthropogenic features in the Okavango Panhandle of Botswana. We combined GPS collar data from 39 elephants (2014–2018) with spatial data on permanent water sources and human development to quantify patterns of water access. We modelled a multi‐scale resource selection function that showed elephants selected water access points in areas with less human development ( p < 0.0151). Elephants visited water more evenly across day and night in areas with no buildings nearby, but shifted to a significantly more nocturnal pattern in areas of higher building density (ANOVA, p < 0.001). Analysing spatial and temporal patterns of elephant resource access in the context of anthropogenic features provides compelling insight into the potential consequences of human‐modified landscapes on the behaviour, fitness, and persistence of threatened species and our coexistence with them.