Determinants of Distribution Patterns and Management Needs in a Critically Endangered Lion Panthera leo Population

Abstract

The lion Panthera leo is Critically Endangered in West Africa and is known to occupy only four protected areas within the region. The largest population persists in the trans-boundary W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) ecosystem, in the border region of Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger. WAP harbors an estimated 350 individuals, or 90% of West Africa's lions. We modeled lion occupancy across WAP using systematic, vehicle-based spoor counts to assess how landscape variables related to biotic factors, management, and human impact influence lion distribution across WAP. We surveyed 1110 km of roads across WAP in 2012, obtaining 79 lion detections in 32 of our 167 15 × 15 km sampling units (naïve occupancy = 0.41). Overall occupancy ( ) was 0.71 (95% SE = 0.56-0.83) when accounting for imperfect detection (p = 0.22, 95% SE = 0.18-0.27). The best predictors of lion occupancy were numbers of permanent protected area staff and mean monthly dry season precipitation. Model-averaged estimates suggest greatest lion occupancy in the Arly and Pendjari management blocks, with lowest occupancy in the tri-national W National Park. Our results suggest that lions in WAP are equally limited by management and biotic factors, and demonstrate how unevenly distributed protection effort limits the distribution of an apex predator across a protected landscape. We strongly recommend increased funding and better protection to increase lion occupancy in WAP, most urgently in the W National Park.

More than $1 billion needed annually to secure Africa’s protected areas with lions

“…Our results are consistent with prior studies in highlighting the importance of management budgets for effective conservation of African wildlife. Inadequate PA funding in part leads to the wildlife population declines observed in many of Africa's PAs and helps explain the severity of declines in charismatic species such as rhinos, elephants, and, increasingly, lions (3,5,10,(33)(34)(35). Our finding that lower funding was associated with greater threats to wildlife suggests that management funding does not scale with the degree of threat and that threats are exacerbated in the absence of adequate funding.…”

Comparable space use by lions between hunting concessions and national parks in West Africa

“…Several extrinsic factors could influence lion occupancy, especially in such a heterogeneous landscape as WAP (Table S2). We expected effects from anthropogenic variables to be among the most pronounced due to implications of risks (Everatt, Moore, & Kerley, 2019;Henschel et al, 2016;Schuette, Creel, & Christianson, 2013). We also explored effects of four ecological variables on lion occupancy: wild prey availability, competitor occupancy, fire pressure and savanna land cover.…”

“…While we expect lions to prefer habitats in NPs, preferential use of those spatial refugia to avoid human pressures might be disrupted by disparities in habitat quality and human presence between management types (Novaro, Funes, & Walker, 2005;van der Meer, Rasmussen, & Fritz, 2015). NPs may not sufficiently combat poaching and habitat degradation due to lower budgets and staffing, while revenues from trophy hunting in HCs allow for infrastructure development and habitat improvement (Bouché, Lungren, Hien, & Omondi, 2004;Henschel et al, 2014Henschel et al, , 2016. Such dynamic coupled humannatural processes induce trade-offs that could result in higher than expected space use in areas with high human pressure because of cues of high-quality habitat, for example, prey or water availability (Loveridge, Valeix, Elliot, & Macdonald, 2017;Novaro et al, 2005).…”

A Critical Review of Lion Research in South Africa: The Impact of Researcher Perspective, Research Mode, and Power Structures on Outcome Bias and Implementation Gaps

“…The lion being an apex predator, it can have profound effects on ecosystem functioning and structure (Tambling et al, 2013). Literature shows that research activities focus on scrutinizing the lion both in single species studies (Creel et al, 2016;Henschel et al, 2016;Lindsey et al, 2016), and in relation with other predators (Cozzi et al, 2012;Vanak et al, 2013;Swanson et al, 2014), herbivores (Valeix et al, 2009;Meena et al, 2014;Martin and Owen-Smith, 2016) and relevant conservation management practices (de Pinho et al, 2014;Winterbach et al, 2014;Snyman et al, 2015). Therefore, the African lion proves to be a rich academic, applied, and socially relevant species as a focus for a bibliometric assessment such as conducted here.…”