Roaring success: Lion metapopulation management and lessons for conservation in fragmented landscapes

Abstract

In the past three decades, the South African landscape has been transformed through the establishment of many small, fenced reserves. Fencing reduceshuman–wildlife conflictbutdisruptsnatural processes. Wildlife managers use translocation between properties to mimic immigration and emigration ofmanyspecies,thusreducingthenegative impactoffencing.Forsomespecies,suchasthe lion (Panthera leo), a metapopulation approach is applied. Over the past three decades, lions were reintroduced into over 50 fenced reserves, resulting in a current metapopulation of over 800 lions. Previous studies have highlighted the successes and challenges of many aspects of lion conservation in these small, fenced reserves, but none have evaluated ifthemetapopulationapproachadheresto formal metapopulation principles. We demonstrate that these small reserves successfully function as a metapopulation through ad hoc translocation events. The Lion Management Forum (LiMF) has provided a platform for communication between role players that has contributed to this success. Ongoing efforts are under way to develop comprehensive lion translocation guidelines based on the collective experiences of lion managers and veterinarians within LiMF as well as guidelines to ensurethecontinuedsuccessofthemetapopulation approach. The approach, with or without fencing, holds promise for establishing landscape linkages at both national and international scales, thereby offering potential for conserving additional lion populations and other species.