LTREB - Long Term Studies of African Lions

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9407880 Packer Over the next decade, the principal investigators will extend the long-term ecological, demographic and genealogical records on lions in the Serengeti National park and Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. These populations are already among the best-studied vertebrates in the world, but lions have long life expectancies and lion population size responds slowly to ecological perturbation. Extensionof these records will have three important consequences. First, the relationship between small-scale environmental heterogeneity and local carrying capacity will be determined by collecting more complete and extensive data on survival, reproduction, and the physical growth rates of immatures. Knowledge of this relationship will make it possible to answer a wide variety of research questions, including (a) the role of territoriality in lion population regulation, (b) the effects of territoriality, familiarity and kinship on female dispersal patterns, (c) the extent to which territorial neighbors collude to pre-empt settlement by potential newcomers, and (d) the impact of post-reproductive females on the reproductive rates of their younger companions. Second, extending the long-term lion study will permit the ongoing monitoring of these populations in the face of impending ecological change. By recording population changes and patterns of physical growth, it will be possible to measure the impact of the enormous increase in human population around the Serengeti. Maintenance of the data in the Ngorongoro Crater will further elucidate the consequences of chronic inbreeding in a small population. Continued measurement of both populations will be invaluable in monitoring the effects of global climate change. Third, by maintaining the long-term records, the PI's and their collaborators will be able to incorporate highly detailed background data into cross-sectional studies that will receive funding from other sources. At the minimum, these surveys will include studies of host-parasite coe volution, endocrinology, and behavior. Not only will the lion project carry out basic research, but it will also have a practical application. The long-term lion data will be incorporated into a new GIS project in the Serengeti along with all available data collected by the Serengeti Ecological Monitoring Program.