Detecting early warnings of pressure on an African lion (Panthera leo) population in the Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area, Uganda

Alexander Braczkowski, Arjun M. Gopalaswamy, Mustafa Nsubuga, James Allan, Duan Biggs, Martine Maron

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

African lions are declining across much of their range, yet robust measures of population densities remain rare. The Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area (QECA; 2,400 km2) in East Africa's Albertine Rift has potential to support a significant lion population. However, QECA lions are threatened, and information on the status of lions in the region is lacking. Here, we use a spatially explicit search encounter approach to estimate key population parameters of lions in the QECA. We then compare home range sizes estimated from our models to those from a radio-collaring study implemented a decade earlier. We recorded 8,243.5 km of search effort over 93 days, detecting 30 individual lions (16 female and 14 male) on 165 occasions at a rate of 2 lion detections/100 km2. Lion density in the QECA was 2.70 adult lions/100 km2 (SD = 0.47), while mean abundance was 71 individuals (SD = 11.05). Worryingly, the movement parameter for male lions was 3.27 km and 2.22 km for females, suggesting > 400%, and > 100% increases in home range size, respectively, compared to a decade earlier. Sex ratio of lions in the QECA was lower (1 male: 0.75 females), when compared to a previously published review (mean = 1:2.33). The large movements and skewed sex ratios we report on in this paper are likely a result of human-driven prey depletion. Our results suggest lions in the QECA are in a precarious state, and the lion densities are significantly lower than what they could be. As lions are under pressure throughout much of Africa, our study presents the utility of a census technique that could be used elsewhere as an early warning of lion declines.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere12015
JournalEcological Solutions and Evidence
Volume1
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Bayesian spatially explicit capture-recapture
  • big cat
  • density
  • East Africa
  • felid
  • lion
  • Panthera leo
  • population size
  • Uganda

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology
  • Global and Planetary Change
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
  • Nature and Landscape Conservation

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