Journal
MAMMAL REVIEW
Volume 52, Issue 1, Pages 39-51Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/mam.12262
Keywords
Africa; African lion Panthera leo; carnivores Carnivora; conservation; habitat suitability; human-dominated landscapes; land use
Funding
- Natural Environment Research Council Doctoral Training Grant as part of the IAPETUS Doctoral Partnership [NE/S007431/1]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Research on habitat preferences of African lions demonstrates behavioral plasticity in response to factors such as prey abundance and proximity to water. The focus of studies has been predominantly on protected or managed areas, indicating a need for future research outside of these areas to better understand how lions adapt to human-dominated landscapes.
Globally, large terrestrial carnivores (Carnivora) have suffered precipitous declines in population and range. Today, they must persist in increasingly isolated natural habitat patches within a human-dominated matrix. Effective conservation aimed at supporting carnivores in such landscapes requires species-specific understanding of habitat requirements. We present results from a review of the published literature to assess the current state of knowledge regarding habitat preferences of the African lion Panthera leo, with the aim of identifying common drivers of habitat use across contexts. Using the Web of Science, we identified 154 usable articles and extracted information relating to study topic, location, habitats described, land-use type, and any documented habitat preferences. Only 31 studies documented evidence of habitat use, and collectively, they suggested that preferences for specific habitat types were varied and context-specific. The importance of prey abundance and proximity to water was highlighted in multiple studies. Anthropogenic factors interfered with expected patterns of habitat use. There was evident bias in study locations: 83% of the habitat-use studies were based in only three countries, and 70% were focussed on protected or managed areas. Our synthesis suggests that lions demonstrate behavioural plasticity in habitat use in response to anthropogenic pressures. To understand the limits of this plasticity and to manage Africa's changing landscapes effectively for roaming lions, future research should be focussed on analysis of habitat use outside protected areas, taking into account gradients of distance to water, prey abundance, and anthropogenic risk.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available