Evaluating strategies for keeping African lions connected

One of the greatest challenges in connectivity planning is creating a conservation strategy that can be applied across multiple species, scales, and/or habitats.  With so many different tools and strategies, choosing the right one is important both for immediate use and as a valuable strategy for future application.  In Africa, where the landscape is rapidly changing along with the human population, determining how to manage wide-ranging species is a particular challenge.

In their recent paper, Cushman et al. look at different dispersal possibilities and potential landscape changes for the African lion (Panthera leo) to determine how different conservation strategies, such as increased fencing between lion and human populations, would be most beneficial for maintaining population connectivity.  Their study area covers almost 1.5 million square kilometers, and utilized tracking data from 50 African lions to create a resistance surface for movement.  They then looked at changes in connectivity across nine landscape change scenarios using eight different dispersal abilities of lions.

Their results show that population connectivity would decline if the protected areas network were reduced in size or fenced in, regardless of dispersal ability.  Conversely, connectivity would increase with the addition of corridors or fencing to funnel dispersers between protected areas.  The most effective way to maintain population connectivity in the region is to retain the current extent of protected areas, and ensure that individuals are directed via strategic pathways to remain within those protected areas.  This includes supporting trans-national protected areas and corridors, to allow for freedom of movement across national borders to maximize dispersal potential.

The landscape of Africa will continue to change rapidly, with conservation issues such as whether to use fencing to prevent human-wildlife conflict needing to be addressed.  Improved data collection and analysis such as this sheds light on what might work, and what might fail, to maintain connectivity in the landscape, especially across large regions and at multiple scales.