Predicting the consequences of indiscriminate poaching on the population persistence of a non-target species of conservation concern

Illegal animal hunting, a contributor to biodiversity loss, occurs along a relative selectivity spectrum from indiscriminate to highly selective. Extensive research has evaluated the impacts of selective hunting on animal populations. In contrast, the ways in which indiscriminate hunting pressure can shape populations of non-target species has not yet received comparable attention. We used empirical field data collection and simulation modelling to predict the persistence of an African lion population (Panthera leo) subject to indiscriminate hunting pressure from non-target subsistence poaching via wire snares in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Our simulation modelling predicted lion population extirpation following a 50 % rise of lethal poaching pressure above the observed levels. When lethal poaching pressure doubled, the lion population was extirpated in ~70 % of our simulations. We then simulated reductions in lethal poaching pressure to quantify the predicted population recovery of lions. We found that the lion population increased by 40 % with reductions in lethal poaching pressure of 50 %. When we removed lethal poaching pressure entirely, the lion population nearly doubled in just 18 years. Our results demonstrate that by reducing the density of wire snares in the study area by just 2.79/km2, the lion population transitioned from being locally extirpated in 67 % of the simulations to reaching carrying capacity inside of two lion generations. We explore how vulnerable even non-target animals are to subsistence poaching and describe the types of applied practices that can be implemented to reduce wire snaring and effectively promote the population recovery of species of conservation concern

The implications of global oil exploration for the conservation of terrestrial wildlife

Global dependence upon fossil fuels persists in the 21st century. With known deposits of oil diminishing, technological advancements and alternative financing have facilitated explorations into a number of sensitive habitats around the world. Such pursuits challenge global priorities relating to the ideals of energy production versus those of biodiversity protection. Presently, the implications of oil extraction on terrestrial wildlife, for instance, are unclear, undermining the ability to meet this challenge. We synthesized the literature to quantify the range of documented impacts of oil extraction on terrestrial wildlife and to identify prevailing knowledge gaps. Our review returned 31 studies documenting various effects of oil extraction, across the exploration, development, production, and abandonment phases, on terrestrial wildlife. These studies were most often based in North and South America, tended to focus on the development phase of oil extraction projects, and often focused on the impacts on mammals. We found that terrestrial wildlife were generally negatively impacted by oil extraction through road development, seismic surveys, hydraulic fracturing, installation of oil wells, contamination, and other extraction disturbances. We also considered the implications of this review on oil extraction in Murchison Falls National Park and the broader Murchison Falls Conservation Area, a highly biodiverse region in Uganda. Herein, we detected an important knowledge gap relating to the ways in which various oil extraction activities may increase the potential for human-wildlife conflict. Reviews of this type are essential for quantifying the effects of oil extraction on terrestrial wildlife and can inform future decision-making on natural resource extraction in ecologically-sensitive habitats globally

Estimating population sizes of lions Panthera leo and spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta in Uganda’s savannah parks, using lure count methods

Funding: United States Agency for International DevelopmentDespite > 60 years of conservation in Uganda’s national parks the populations of lions and spotted hyaenas in these areas have never been estimated using a census method. Estimates for some sites have been extrapolated to other protected areas and educated guesses have been made but there has been nothing more definitive. We used a lure count analysis method of call-up counts to estimate populations of the lion Panthera leo and spotted hyaena Crocuta crocuta in the parks where reasonable numbers of these species exist: Queen Elizabeth Protected Area, Murchison Falls Conservation Area and Kidepo Valley National Park. We estimated a total of 408 lions and 324 hyaenas for these three conservation areas. It is unlikely that other conservation areas in Uganda host >10 lions or > 40 hyaenas. The Queen Elizabeth Protected Area had the largest populations of lions and hyaenas: 140 and 211, respectively. It is estimated that lion numbers have declined by 30% in this protected area since the late 1990s and there are increasing concerns for the long-term viability of both species in Uganda.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Predicting the consequences of subsistence poaching on the population persistence of a non-target species of conservation concern

Illegal animal hunting, a contributor to biodiversity loss, occurs along a relative selectivity spectrum from indiscriminate to highly selective. Extensive research has evaluated the impacts of selective hunting on animal populations. In contrast, the ways in which indiscriminate hunting pressure can shape populations of non-target species has not yet received comparable attention. We used empirical field data collection and simulation modelling to predict the persistence of an African lion population (Panthera leo) subject to indiscriminate hunting pressure from non-target subsistence poaching via wire snares in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Our simulation modelling predicted lion population extirpation following a 50 % rise of lethal poaching pressure above the observed levels. When lethal poaching pressure doubled, the lion population was extirpated in similar to 70 % of our simulations. We then simulated reductions in lethal poaching pressure to quantify the predicted population recovery of lions. We found that the lion population increased by 40 % with reductions in lethal poaching pressure of 50 %. When we removed lethal poaching pressure entirely, the lion population nearly doubled in just 18 years. Our results demonstrate that by reducing the density of wire snares in the study area by just 2.79/km(2), the lion population transitioned from being locally extirpated in 67 % of the simulations to reaching carrying capacity inside of two lion generations. We explore how vulnerable even non-target animals are to subsistence poaching and describe the types of applied practices that can be implemented to reduce wire snaring and effectively promote the population recovery of species of conservation concern

Integrating social justice into higher education conservation science

Because biodiversity loss has largely been attributed to human actions, people, particularly those in the Global South, are regularly depicted as threats to conservation. This context has facilitated rapid growth in green militarization, with fierce crackdowns against real or perceived environmental offenders. We designed an undergraduate course to assess student perspectives on biodiversity conservation and social justice and positioned those students to contribute to a human heritage-centered conservation (HHCC) initiative situated in Uganda. We evaluated changes in perspectives using pre- and postcourse surveys and reflection instruments. Although the students started the course prioritizing biodiversity conservation, even when it was costly to human well-being, by the end of the course, they were recognizing and remarking on the central importance of social justice within conservation. We present a framework for further integration of HHCC approaches into higher education courses so as to conserve the integrity of coupled human and natural systems globally

Functionally connecting collaring and conservation to create more actionable telemetry research

While telemetry technology has undoubtedly revolutionized ecological research, the impacts to conservation remain in question. Conservation is, after all, an applied discipline with research that is intentionally designed to inform policies and practices that can demonstrably protect biodiversity. Though telemetry is a tool that is commonly used to raise conservation funding, the technology itself cannot generate these policies and practices. Rather, it is the outputs of the analytical processes interrogating the data deriving from telemetry systems that can do so. This distinction is not semantic but rather fundamental to creating more actionable research. We developed conceptual frameworks to delineate the pathways by which telemetry research can be structured to inform conservation policies, practices, and the decisions of funders motivated to support conservation. We demonstrate how the application of these frameworks can reduce the research-implementation gap so as to make biodiversity conservation more effective. While our assessment uses collaring as a case study, our conceptual frameworks are applicable to all research using animal-borne technology seeking to promote the recovery of species of conservation concern

Examining Evident Interdisciplinarity Among Prides of Lion Researchers

Lions (Panthera leo) have experienced dramatic population declines in recent decades and today, inhabit just a fraction of their historic range. The reasons behind these declines are many, but conflict with humans, principally motivated by lion depredation of livestock, is among the most influential. Recent calls within the scientific community have identified that wicked problems like these should be addressed using interdisciplinary approaches. Here we examined the extent to which human-lion conflict research has been interdisciplinary. We conducted an extensive review of the literature and uncovered 88 papers, published between 1990 and 2015, that assessed human-lion interaction and the ecology of lions exposed to anthropogenic disturbance. While human-lion conflict research experienced near-exponential growth (y = 8E-194e0.222x, R2= 0.76) across this time period, the number of co-authors engaged in this research changed very little (x = 3.28, se = 0.19). Moreover, co-authors of this research tended to be affiliated with units from just three highly-related STEM disciplines (biology, wildlife management, and environmental science). Comparatively, co-authors affiliated with units in the humanities and social sciences occurred in < 4% of all papers examined. Our analysis also presents a novel framework that positions human-lion conflict research as having not two dimensions, as has been commonly conceptualized, but five dimensions. These dimensions include not only the human and the lion dimensions, but also the livestock, wild prey, and environmental dimensions. None of the papers that we evaluated concurrently studied all five of these dimensions to determine their impact on human-lion conflict. Furthermore, despite the fact that human-lion conflict research was primarily developed by co-authors from STEM disciplines, the most common dimension evaluated was the human dimension which requires social science and humanities expertise. Our analysis indicates that interdisciplinarity among human-lion conflict research has historically been low. These low levels of interdisciplinarity observed from 1990 to 2015 however, are not necessarily representative of the ongoing efforts to develop more inclusive research teams. Thus, we discuss the implications of this research for the development of sustainable solutions to conserve lions and preserve human well-being and identify potential avenues forward to create more interdisciplinary prides of lion researchers

Intergenerational inequity : stealing the joy and benefits of nature from our children

No abstract available.The Australia-Africa Universities Network— Partnership Research and Development Fund, a PRIME-DAAD fellowship and the Australian Research Council Linkage Grant. he article processing charge was covered by the Baden-Wuerttemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Art and the University of Freiburg through the funding programme Open Access Publishing.http://frontiersin.org/Ecology_and_Evolutiondm2022Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog