African lion (Panthera leo) populations have been severely affected in recent decades through increasing habitat loss, depletion of natural prey, poaching and unsustainable levels of trophy hunting, with an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 free-ranging lions left in Africa and range contraction of more than 75 percent.
In southern Africa, many small populations have been fenced in an attempt to allow lions to persist in a human dominated landscape yet populations within protected areas are, however, still exposed to legal and illegal hunting, road kills, poisoning and snaring. These human-induced mortalities affect lion populations in various ways, further compromising their viability and likelihood of survival.
Andrei Snyman’s study investigates the effects of anthropogenic factors on a lion population found in Eastern Botswana. By means of Resource Utilization Functions (RUF’s) lion habitat space use is quantified in an attempt to predict and identify viable lion corridors through to which we use Circuit Theory modeling. He presents his doctoral defense at 1 p.m. Friday in Hardin Hall 209.
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/etbi