Quantifying lion (Panthera leo) demographic response following a three-year moratorium on trophy hunting.

ABSTRACT: Factors that limit African lion populations are manifold and well-recognized, but their relative demographic effects remain poorly understood, particularly trophy hunting near protected areas. We identified and monitored 386 individual lions within and around South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, for five years (2008-2012) with trophy hunting and for three additional years (2013-2015) during a hunting moratorium. We used these data with mark-resight models to estimate the effects of hunting on lion survival, recruitment, and abundance. The best survival models, accounting for imperfect detection, revealed strong positive effects of the moratorium, with survival increasing by 17.1 and 14.0 percentage points in subadult and adult males, respectively. Smaller effects on adult female survival a

SUBMITTER: Mweetwa T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5962075 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature