Title
Socio-political and ecological fragility of threatened, free-ranging African lion populations
Author(s)
Nicholson, Samantha K.;Dickman, Amy;Hinks, Amy;Riggio, Jason;Bauer, Hans;Loveridge, Andrew;Becker, Matthew;Begg, Colleen;Bhalla, Shivani;Burnham, Dawn;Cotterill, Alayne;Dolrenry, Stephanie;Dröge, Egil;Funston, Paul;Hazzah, Leela;Ikanda, Dennis;Gebresenbet, Fikirte;Henschel, Philipp;Mandisodza-Chikerema, Roseline L.;Mbizah, Moreangels;Hunter, Luke;Jacobsen, Kim;Lindsey, Peter;Maputla, Nakedi;Macdonald, Ewan;Macdonald, David W.;Duff, Resson Kantai;Packer, Craig;Sillero-Zubiri, Claudio;Mudumba, Tutilo;Strampelli, Paolo;Sogbohossou, Etotépé A.;Tyrrell, Peter;Jacobson, Andrew P.
Published
2023
Publisher
Communications Earth and Environment
Abstract
Lions are one of the world’s most iconic species but are threatened with extinction. Developing effective range-wide conservation plans are crucial but hampered by the relative lack of knowledge on specific threats facing each population and the socio-political context for conservation. Here, we present a range-wide examination of the relative fragility of lion populations, examining socio-political factors alongside ecological ones. We found Ethiopia’s Maze National Park had the most ecologically fragile geographic population while Kavango-Zambezi was the least. At a country level, lion populations had highest ecological fragility in Cameroon and Malawi. When we examined socio-political fragility, Somalia was the most fragile lion range country, followed by South Sudan. When socio-political and ecological fragility were combined, lion populations in Maze National Park and Bush-Bush (Somalia) and more broadly, Somalian and Malawian lion populations were the most fragile. These insights should help inform more nuanced and appropriately targeted lion conservation plans.
Keywords
ecosystem ecology
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PUB36117