Abstract
Conservation policy and practice can sometimes run counter to their mutual aims of ensuring species survival. In Kenya, where threatened predators such as lion deplete endangered prey such as Grevy’s zebra, conservation practitioners seek to ensure species success through exclusive strategies of protection, population increase and preservation. We found strong selection for the endangered Grevy’s zebra by both lion and hyena on two small fenced conservancies in Kenya. Despite abundant diversity of available prey, Grevy’s zebra were selected disproportionately more than their availability, while other highly available species such as buffalo were avoided. Lions were therefore not alone in presenting a credible threat to Grevy’s zebra survival. Conservation practitioners must consider interlinked characteristics of prey selection, resource availability and quality, the interplay between carnivore guild members and landscape scale population trends performance in wildlife management decisions.
Highlights
Range reduction and the fragmentation of wildlife populations threatens biodiversity globally, and links directly to accelerated extinction rates (Fahrig, 2003)
Plains zebra are the most abundant prey species on the Lewa-Borana Landscape (LBL), both hyenas and lions exhibited negative selection (JI of −0.24 and −0.21, respectively) for them based on proportional availability and dietary composition (Fig. 2)
Hyenas selected for giraffe (Giraffa reticulata; 0.40), waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus; 0.54), and eland (0.31), while lions selected for warthog (Phacochoerus africanus; 0.45), giraffe (0.45), waterbuck (0.26), and eland (0.56)
Summary
Range reduction and the fragmentation of wildlife populations threatens biodiversity globally, and links directly to accelerated extinction rates (Fahrig, 2003). As human populations and livestock numbers increase, resources are depleted and their availability to wildlife is reduced; species are not able to adapt fast enough (Chivian & Bernstein, 2008; Ogutu et al, 2016). For vulnerable carnivore-prey populations, increasing predation rates are often assumed to be the proximal causes of species declines, being the most visible signals of change, while the underlying drivers such as rangeland functionality and forage availability may go unnoticed (Ng’weno et al, 2017). The challenges associated with conserving wildlife are compounded in small reserves, when threatened carnivores and. Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul: managing threatened predators of endangered and declining prey species. Species conservation strategies in Kenya seek to protect and enhance the populations of both carnivore and prey independently (KWS, 2010; KWS, 2018), these aims cannot be mutually exclusive
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