Mismatch between conservation needs and actual representation of lions from West and Central Africa in in situ and ex situ conservation

Visser, Fleur; Drouilly, Marine; Moodley, Yoshan; Michaux, Johan; Somers, Michael J.

doi:10.1111/conl.12949

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 71 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Visser et al. ( 2023 ) highlight this issue in African lions and the same is likely true for leopards. To correct for uneven sampling and clustering, records were thinned using the R package spThin (Aiello‐Lammens et al., 2015 ) to a distance of 10 km.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Leopard subspecies conservation under climate and land‐use change

Mitchell,

Bolam,

Bertola

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Predicting the effects of global environmental changes on species distribution is a top conservation priority, particularly for large carnivores, that contribute to regulating and maintaining ecosystems. As the most widespread and adaptable large felid, ranging across Africa and Asia, leopards are crucial to many ecosystems as both keystone and umbrella species, yet they are threatened across their ranges. We used intraspecific species distribution models (SDMs) to predict changes in range suitability for leopards under future climate and land‐use change and identify conservation gaps and opportunities. We generated intraspecific SDMs for the three western leopard subspecies, the African, Panthera pardus pardus; Arabian, Panthera pardus nimr; and Persian, Panthera pardus tulliana, leopards, and overlapped predictions with protected areas (PAs) coverage. We show that leopard subspecies differ in their environmental associations and vulnerability to future changes. The African and Arabian leopards are predicted to lose ~25% and ~14% of their currently suitable range, respectively, while the Persian leopard is predicted to experience ~12% range gains. We found that most areas predicted to be suitable were not protected, with only 4%–16% of the subspecies' ranges falling inside PAs, and that these proportions will decrease in the future. The highly variable responses we found between leopard subspecies highlight the importance of considering intraspecific variation when modelling vulnerability to climate and land‐use changes. The predicted decrease in proportion of suitable ranges falling inside PAs threatens global capacity to effectively conserve leopards because survival rates are substantially lower outside PAs due to persecution. Hence, it is important to work with local communities to address negative human‐wildlife interactions and to restore habitats to retain landscape connectivity where PA coverage is low. On the other hand, the predicted increase in range suitability across southern Europe presents opportunities for expansion outside of their contemporary range, capitalising on European rewilding schemes.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Leopard subspecies conservation under climate and land‐use change

Mitchell,

Bolam,

Bertola

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Changes in African lion demography and population growth with increased protection in a large, prey‐depleted ecosystem

Creel,

Becker,

Goodheart

et al. 2024

Conservat Sci and Prac

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Large carnivores such as the lion are declining across Africa, in part because their large herbivore prey is declining. There is consensus that increased protection from prey depletion will be necessary to reverse the decline of lion populations, but few studies have tested whether increased protection is sufficient to reverse the decline, particularly in the large, open ecosystems where most lions remain. Here, we used an integrated population model to test whether lion demography and population dynamics were measurably improved by increased protection. We used data from monitoring of 358 individuals from 2013 to 2021 in the Greater Kafue Ecosystem, where prior research showed that lions were strongly limited by prey depletion, but protection increased in several well‐defined areas beginning in 2018. In some other areas, protection decreased. In areas with high protection, lion fecundity was 29% higher, and mean annual apparent survival (φ) was 8.3% higher (with a minimum difference of 6.0% for prime‐aged adult females and a maximum difference of 11.9% for sub‐adult males). These demographic benefits combined to produce likely population growth in areas with high protection ( = 1.085, 90% CI = 0.97, 1.21), despite likely population decline in areas with low protection ( = 0.970, 90% CI = 0.88, 1.07). For the ecosystem as a whole, population size remained relatively constant at a moderate density of 3.74 (±0.49 SD) to 4.13 (±0.52 SD) lions/100 km2. With the growth observed in areas with high protection, the expected doubling time was 10 years. Despite this, recovery at the scale of the entire ecosystem is likely to be slow without increased protection; the current growth rate would require 50 years to double. Our results demonstrate that increased protection is likely to improve the reproduction and population growth rate of lions at a large scale within an unfenced ecosystem that has been greatly affected by poaching.

show abstract

Wild felids in trophic cascades: a global review

Tossens,

Drouilly,

Lhoest

et al. 2024

Mammal Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Carnivores, often identified as keystone species, can influence prey and subordinate carnivores through density‐ and behaviourally mediated pathways. Although the magnitude of their impacts remains debated, carnivores may trigger successional direct and indirect ecological effects on lower trophic levels in specific contexts, commonly known as trophic cascades. Felids, as ambush predators, have great potential to impact food webs. Yet, their influence on ecosystem dynamics remains understudied. This global comprehensive literature review aimed to assess evidence for felids' ecological roles in trophic cascades across both natural and human‐dominated ecosystems. We found 61 publications that studied the influence of 18 felid species in trophic cascades. Research exhibited taxonomic and geographic biases, favouring big cats, temperate regions and biomes, as well as tropical moist forests in Central and South America. Of the studies, 23% (n = 14) were experimental, while 77% were observational or correlative. Among the latter, 60% tested at least one alternative hypothesis and 47% examined bottom‐up processes. Despite varying levels of inference, 80% of studies provide information consistent with trophic cascades involving felids. Their examination confirmed wild cats' ability to induce density‐ and behaviourally mediated trophic cascades, thereby influencing critical biotic and abiotic processes, including mesopredator control, functional diversity maintenance, and carbon storage. The magnitude of these effects may be altered in human‐dominated landscapes, although current research effort remains too limited to draw conclusions. In conclusion, felids may act as drivers of ecosystem change, and acknowledging their ecological roles can aid in promoting their conservation. However, we encourage more strongly inferential and comprehensive investigations into felid‐mediated trophic cascades, prioritising research on small cats, felids in Asia and Africa, and the impacts of humans on trophic cascades, which can help to better inform conservation interventions and perspectives.

show abstract

Mismatch between conservation needs and actual representation of lions from West and Central Africa in in situ and ex situ conservation

Cited by 4 publications

References 71 publications

Leopard subspecies conservation under climate and land‐use change

Leopard subspecies conservation under climate and land‐use change

Changes in African lion demography and population growth with increased protection in a large, prey‐depleted ecosystem

Wild felids in trophic cascades: a global review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About