TY - JOUR
T1 - Socio-political and ecological fragility of threatened, free-ranging African lion populations
AU - Nicholson, Samantha K.
AU - Dickman, Amy
AU - Hinks, Amy
AU - Riggio, Jason
AU - Bauer, Hans
AU - Loveridge, Andrew
AU - Becker, Matthew
AU - Begg, Colleen
AU - Bhalla, Shivani
AU - Burnham, Dawn
AU - Cotterill, Alayne
AU - Dolrenry, Stephanie
AU - Dröge, Egil
AU - Funston, Paul
AU - Hazzah, Leela
AU - Ikanda, Dennis
AU - Gebresenbet, Fikirte
AU - Henschel, Philipp
AU - Mandisodza-Chikerema, Roseline L.
AU - Mbizah, Moreangels
AU - Hunter, Luke
AU - Jacobsen, Kim
AU - Lindsey, Peter
AU - Maputla, Nakedi
AU - Macdonald, Ewan
AU - Macdonald, David W.
AU - Duff, Resson Kantai
AU - Packer, Craig
AU - Sillero-Zubiri, Claudio
AU - Mudumba, Tutilo
AU - Strampelli, Paolo
AU - Sogbohossou, Etotépé A.
AU - Tyrrell, Peter
AU - Jacobson, Andrew P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1038/s43247-023-00959-3
DO - 10.1038/s43247-023-00959-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85168888999
SN - 2662-4435
VL - 4
JO - Communications Earth and Environment
JF - Communications Earth and Environment
IS - 1
M1 - 302
ER -