Population dynamics and threats to an apex predator outside protected areas: Implications for carnivore management

Williams, S.T.; William, K.S.; Lewis, B.P.; Hill, R.A.

doi:10.1098/rsos.161090

Population dynamics and threats to an apex predator outside protected areas: Implications for carnivore management

Williams, S.T.; William, K.S.; Lewis, B.P.; Hill, R.A.

Authors

S.T. Williams

K.S. William

B.P. Lewis

Professor Russell Hill r.a.hill@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

Data on the population dynamics and threats to large carnivores are vital to conservation efforts, but these are hampered by a paucity of studies. For some species, such as the leopard (Panthera pardus), there is such uncertainty in population trends that leopard trophy hunting has been banned in South Africa since 2016 while further data on leopard abundance are collected. We present one of the first assessments of leopard population dynamics, and identify the key threats to a population of leopards outside of protected areas in South Africa. We conducted a long-term trap survey between 2012 and 2016 in the Soutpansberg Mountains, and drew on a previous estimate of leopard population density for the region from 2008. In 24 sampling periods, we estimated the population density and assessed population structure. We fitted eight leopards with GPS collars to assess threats to the population. Leopard population density declined by 66%, from 10.73 to 3.65 leopards per 100 km2 in 2008 and 2016, respectively. Collared leopards had a high mortality rate, which appeared to be due to illegal human activity. While improving the management of trophy hunting is important, we suggest that mitigating human–wildlife conflict could have a bigger impact on carnivore conservation.

Citation

Williams, S., William, K., Lewis, B., & Hill, R. (2017). Population dynamics and threats to an apex predator outside protected areas: Implications for carnivore management. Royal Society Open Science, 4(4), Article 161090. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.161090

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 20, 2017
Online Publication Date	Apr 19, 2017
Publication Date	Apr 19, 2017
Deposit Date	Mar 6, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Mar 23, 2017
Journal	Royal Society Open Science
Publisher	The Royal Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	4
Issue	4
Article Number	161090
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.161090

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Copyright Statement
© 2017 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.