Environmental factors influencing spotted hyena and lion population biomass across Africa.

ABSTRACT: The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta Erxleben) and the lion (Panthera leo Linnaeus) are two of the most abundant and charismatic large mammalian carnivores in Africa and yet both are experiencing declining populations and significant pressures from environmental change. However, with few exceptions, most studies have focused on influences upon spotted hyena and lion populations within individual sites, rather than synthesizing data from multiple locations. This has impeded the identification of over-arching trends behind the changing biomass of these large predators. Using partial least squares regression models, influences upon population biomass were therefore investigated, focusing upon prey biomass, temperature, precipitation, and vegetation cover. Additionally, as both spe

SUBMITTER: Jones AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8668751 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature