African lion counts miss the mark, but new method shows promise

Date:
June 18, 2020
Source:
University of Queensland
Summary:
The current technique used for counting lion populations for
research and conservation efforts doesn't add up, according to a
researcher. He has been investigating new methods of photographing
and reviewing data to count lions.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The current technique used for counting lion populations for research
and conservation efforts doesn't add up, according to a University of Queensland researcher.


==========================================================================
But UQ PhD candidate Mr Alexander Braczkowski has been investigating
new methods of photographing and reviewing data analytics to count lions.

"African lions receive immense publicity and conservation attention,"
Mr Braczkowski said.

"Yet their populations are thought to have experienced a 50 per cent
decline since 1994 -- coincidentally the same year Disney's The Lion
King was released.

"Current calculations suggest that between 20,000 and 30,000 lions remain
in the wild -- scattered among 102 populations across approximately 2.5
million square kilometres of Africa.

"Our research shows that the majority of estimates on African lion
population and density are based on track counts, audio lure surveys and
expert solicitation -- which are simply not reliable enough to understand
how lion populations are doing over time." According to Mr Braczkowski,
a recently developed technique has shown promise in better counting big
cats and understanding their movements.



==========================================================================
"It involves driving extensively and searching actively for lions, and
then taking high quality photographs to individually identify them and
noting their locations," Mr Braczkowski said.

"We use an analytical method known as Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture (SECR).

"For African lions, it was first applied in the Maasai Mara by Dr
Nicholas Elliot and Dr Arjun Gopalaswamy, and has now been adopted by the
Kenya Wildlife Service and others to survey lions and other carnivores
across the country." Mr Braczkowski and his colleagues have trialled
the technique to better understand the status and density of lions in
Uganda's Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area.

"This was the perfect place to use this novel approach since lions at
Queen Elizabeth spend a lot of their time up in trees and it is relatively straightforward to get good pictures of them," Mr Braczkowski said.



==========================================================================
"Due to this unique tree-climbing behaviour, managers and tourists at
this park very frequently see lions.

"But, our study showed that these lions are now moving more and have
larger home range sizes compared to a previous study conducted about a
decade ago Dr Arjun Gopalaswamy, a co-author and science advisor to the Wildlife Conservation Society's Global Programs said, since larger home
range sizes in big cats are usually associated with reduced density due
to poorer prey availability, this is a concerning trend.

"There's great value in using methods that keep track of lion populations directly and we urge conservation and research communities to cease using
ad hoc, indirect methods and shift to more reliable and direct methods."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Queensland. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Alex Braczkowski, Arjun M. Gopalaswamy, Nicholas B. Elliot, Hugh P.

Possingham, Alex Bezzina, Martine Maron, Duan Biggs, James R. Allan.

Restoring Africa's Lions: Start With Good Counts. Frontiers in
Ecology and Evolution, 2020; 8 DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00138 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200618111011.htm

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