African lion (Panthera leo) behavior, monitoring, and survival in human-dominated landscapes.

摘要

Across the globe, most carnivore populations are in decline due to human activities. The majority of the lands required for carnivore survival are outside protected areas, in areas affected by humans. Biologists have learned a great deal about the behavior, ecology and genetics of the largest African carnivore, African lions (Panthera leo), yet most studies have been done in protected areas with little to no human disturbance. In this dissertation, I present the first long-term study of a lion population living on non-protected lands that is in direct conflict with humans due to depredation on livestock. The aims of this dissertation were four-fold: (1) to examine the basic demography of a persecuted lion population and the characteristics of the 'problem' lions within it; (2) to evaluate the effectiveness of incorporating previous lion killers into broad-scale participatory monitoring and conservation; (3) to investigate the influences of human settlements on lions; and lastly (4), using specific life-history traits, to examine the metapopulation of lions in Kenya and Tanzania. I found that lions were able to adapt behaviorally and ecologically to human persecution and that incorporating local communities in lion monitoring can be an effective tool for collecting data on elusive carnivores across a broad geographic scale, as well as improving conservation in rural communities. Using a novel approach, I found that, although heavily persecuted by people, lions still regularly came in close proximity to human settlements. Lastly, the metapopulation analysis showed the limited dispersal ability of female lions has implications for conservation and no population, regardless of size, is unaffected by isolation from other patches. I believe that both of these findings emphasize the long-term importance of retaining viable populations in non-protected areas and allowing for connectivity among protected populations. The non-protected regions of the world and the tolerance of local communities are essential to carnivore conservation. There is hope for the future of wildlife conservation if large carnivores can survive in non-protected landscapes, either as low density populations or as dispersers moving between protected areas.