Open AccessDetecting early warnings of pressure on an African lion ( Panthera leo) population in the Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area, Uganda
Author(s) -
Braczkowski Alexander,
Gopalaswamy Arjun M.,
Nsubuga Mustafa,
Allan James,
Biggs Duan,
Maron Martine
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ecological solutions and evidence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2688-8319
DOI - 10.1002/2688-8319.12015
Subject(s) - panthera , threatened species , range (aeronautics) , geography , population , sex ratio , demography , predation , abundance (ecology) , ecology , population density , sea lion , population size , queen (butterfly) , mark and recapture , zoology , biology , habitat , materials science , sociology , composite material , hymenoptera
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 km 2 ) 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 km 2 . Lion density in the QECA was 2.70 adult lions/100 km 2 ( 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.