Comparable space use by lions between hunting concessions and national parks in West Africa

Despite higher human presence and road density, lions in West Africa exhibit comparable space use between national parks and hunting concessions. A large-scale camera survey across the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex revealed that lion occupancy was driven primarily by prey availability, which remained consistent between these land-use types. While national parks are typically intended as refuges from human pressures, this study found no spatial avoidance of hunting concessions (HCs), possibly due to the lions' reliance on depleted prey populations and preferred habitat characteristics in HCs. The research combined occupancy modeling with structural equation modeling to analyze 21,430 trap-nights from 2016 to 2018, assessing the relative effects of environmental, ecological, and anthropogenic variables. Key findings suggest that enhancing water availability and reducing human disturbance at park edges could indirectly influence lion space use, offering potential management interventions for this Critically Endangered species in degraded landscapes.

Mills, K. L., Harissou, Y., Gnoumou, I. T., Abdel‐Nasser, Y. I., Doamba, B., & Harris, N. C. (2020). Comparable space use by lions between hunting concessions and national parks in West Africa. Journal of Applied Ecology, 57(5), 975–984. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13601