Survival rates and causes of mortality of leopards <i>Panthera pardus</i> in southern Africa

Swanepoel, Lourens H.; Somers, Michael J.; Hoven, W. Van; Schiess-Meier, Monika; Owen, Cailey R.; Snyman, Andrei; Martins, Quinton; Senekal, Charl; Camacho, Gerrie; Boshoff, Willem; Dalerum, Fredrik

doi:10.1017/s0030605313001282

Cited by 72 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Anthropogenic mortality is often the biggest threat to leopards outside of protected areas [14], and similar results have been reported for other large carnivores [30,59,60]. The sex ratio was similar to other sites [51,61], and was not indicative of overexploitation of males through trophy hunting [62].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Population dynamics and threats to an apex predator outside protected areas: implications for carnivore management

Williams

Lewis

et al. 2017

R. Soc. open sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Data on the population dynamics and threats to large carnivores are vital to conservation efforts, but these are hampered by a paucity of studies. For some species, such as the leopard (Panthera pardus), there is such uncertainty in population trends that leopard trophy hunting has been banned in South Africa since 2016 while further data on leopard abundance are collected. We present one of the first assessments of leopard population dynamics, and identify the key threats to a population of leopards outside of protected areas in South Africa. We conducted a long-term trap survey between 2012 and 2016 in the Soutpansberg Mountains, and drew on a previous estimate of leopard population density for the region from 2008. In 24 sampling periods, we estimated the population density and assessed population structure. We fitted eight leopards with GPS collars to assess threats to the population. Leopard population density declined by 66%, from 10.73 to 3.65 leopards per 100 km2 in 2008 and 2016, respectively. Collared leopards had a high mortality rate, which appeared to be due to illegal human activity. While improving the management of trophy hunting is important, we suggest that mitigating human–wildlife conflict could have a bigger impact on carnivore conservation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Population dynamics and threats to an apex predator outside protected areas: implications for carnivore management

Williams

Lewis

et al. 2017

R. Soc. open sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These anthropogenic pressures have reduced the ecological functionality of GMA buffer zones and are thought to directly and indirectly affect carnivore populations through snaring by-catch, prey depletion, and habitat loss (Watson et al 2013(Watson et al , 2014Lindsey et al 2014). The effects of anthropogenic activities on protected leopard populations have been investigated in several ecosystems across their distribution (Balme et al 2009b(Balme et al , 2010Henschel et al 2011;Swanepoel et al 2015), but the status of most leopard populations remains unknown, while anthropogenic pressures around them are intensifying. Therefore, improving our understanding of leopards' responses to anthropogenic pressures is critical for their conservation and will likely indicate limiting factors for other sympatric, unstudied carnivore populations facing the same anthropogenic pressures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of a protection gradient on carnivore density and survival: an example with leopards in the Luangwa valley, Zambia

Rosenblatt

Creel

Becker

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human activities on the periphery of protected areas can limit carnivore populations, but measurements of the strength of such effects are limited, largely due to difficulties of obtaining precise data on population density and survival. We measured how density and survival rates of a previously unstudied leopard population varied across a gradient of protection and evaluated which anthropogenic activities accounted for observed patterns. Insights into this generalist's response to human encroachment are likely to identify limiting factors for other sympatric carnivore species. Motion‐sensitive cameras were deployed systematically in adjacent, similarly sized, and ecologically similar study areas inside and outside Zambia's South Luangwa National Park (SLNP) from 2012 to 2014. The sites differed primarily in the degree of human impacts: SLNP is strictly protected, but the adjacent area was subject to human encroachment and bushmeat poaching throughout the study, and trophy hunting of leopards prior to 2012. We used photographic capture histories with robust design capture–recapture models to estimate population size and sex‐specific survival rates for the two areas. Leopard density within SLNP was 67% greater than in the adjacent area, but annual survival rates and sex ratios did not detectably differ between the sites. Prior research indicated that wire‐snare occurrence was 5.2 times greater in the areas adjacent to the park. These results suggest that the low density of leopards on the periphery of SLNP is better explained by prey depletion, rather than by direct anthropogenic mortality. Long‐term spatial data from concurrent lion studies suggested that interspecific competition did not produce the observed patterns. Large carnivore populations are often limited by human activities, but science‐based management policies depend on methods to rigorously and quantitatively assess threats to populations of concern. Using noninvasive robust design capture–recapture methods, we systematically assessed leopard density and survival across a protection gradient and identified bushmeat poaching as the likely limiting factor. This approach is of broad value to evaluate the impacts of anthropogenic activities on carnivore populations that are distributed across gradients of protection.

show abstract

“…We also investigate within and between year movements of individual leopards between China and Russia, as movement is a fundamental process that effects the estimation of both abundance and survival and also can clarify the level of mixing of individuals throughout the region. There are few estimates of leopard survival rates across their range (Balme, Slotow, & Hunter, 2009;Swanepoel et al, 2015), but given that recovery is in the early stages in China, while available habitat in Russia appears to be fully occupied, we suspected that survival rates between the two countries may differ. Our objectives are to (a) use a combined photographic-sampling data set to document the extent individual leopards use Russia and China; (b) estimate annual abundance, density, and survival of leopards using a combined data set for China and Russia; and, (c) compare the accuracy and precision of combined estimates to the same parameters for China and Russia separately using country-specific data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transboundary cooperation improves endangered species monitoring and conservation actions: A case study of the global population of Amur leopards

Vitkalova

Feng

Rybin³

et al. 2018

CONSERVATION LETTERS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Political borders and natural boundaries of wildlife populations seldom coincide, often to the detriment of conservation objectives. Transnational monitoring of endangered carnivores is rare, but is necessary for accurate population monitoring and coordinated conservation policies. We investigate the benefits of collaboratively monitoring the abundance and survival of the critically endangered Amur leopard, which occurs as a single transboundary population across China and Russia. Country-specific results overestimated abundance and were generally less precise compared to integrated monitoring estimates; the global population was similar in both years: 84 (70-108, 95% confidence interval). Uncertainty in country-specific annual survival estimates were approximately twice the integrated estimates of 0.82 (0.69-0.91, 95% confidence limits). This collaborative effort provided a better understanding of Amur leopard population dynamics, represented a first step in building trust, and lead to cooperative agreements to coordinate conservation policies. K E Y W O R D SAmur leopard, camera traps, carnivore, China, mark-recapture, monitoring, Panthera pardus orientalis, Russia, transboundary conservationThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

show abstract

Survival rates and causes of mortality of leopards Panthera pardus in southern Africa

Cited by 72 publications

References 30 publications

Population dynamics and threats to an apex predator outside protected areas: implications for carnivore management

Population dynamics and threats to an apex predator outside protected areas: implications for carnivore management

Effects of a protection gradient on carnivore density and survival: an example with leopards in the Luangwa valley, Zambia

Transboundary cooperation improves endangered species monitoring and conservation actions: A case study of the global population of Amur leopards

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About