Dissertation Research: Group territoriality of the African Lion - Behavioral Adaptation in a Heterogeneous Landscape

论文研究：非洲狮的群体领地性——异质景观中的行为适应

• 批准号: 0608128
• 负责人: Craig Packer
• 金额: $ 0.42万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-06-01 至 2008-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0608128&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Group; territoriality; African

Lions are the only cat species dependent upon cooperative social relationships for their survival. Explaining cooperation in lions lies in understanding the link between the ecological characteristics of their habitat and the survival value of group-living. GIS analysis of 38 years of data on lions in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, reveals that high value lion habitat (defined by high cub survival) is near a river, near a kopje (small rocky hill), and in woodland areas. This information will be used to test the hypothesis that lions live in groups in order to gain a competitive edge in territorial defense, thereby maintaining access to high quality habitat. The funds requested in this proposal will support research to verify these Serengeti-based results in other locations, providing for a level of external validity uncommon to most dissertation projects.Conservation of threatened populations depends upon understanding how a species utilizes the resources (space, food, water and mates) in its habitat. This, in turn, helps to predict how populations will respond to ever changing and fragmented landscapes. This research will provide an example for understanding the evolution of a group-territorial species and it also will establish new methods for determining how populations are tied to the landscape. These tools have general applicability to effective conservation of other wildlife species.

狮子是唯一一种依赖合作社会关系生存的猫科动物。解释狮子的合作在于理解它们栖息地的生态特征与群体生活的生存价值之间的联系。地理信息系统对坦桑尼亚塞伦盖蒂国家公园38年来的狮子数据进行了分析，发现高价值的狮子栖息地(定义为高幼崽存活率)位于河流附近、科普里(小石山)附近和林地地区。这些信息将被用来检验这样的假设，即狮子群居是为了在领土防御中获得竞争优势，从而保持获得高质量栖息地的机会。这项提案中要求的资金将支持在其他地点验证这些基于塞伦盖蒂的结果的研究，提供大多数论文项目不常见的外部有效性。受威胁种群的保护取决于了解一个物种如何利用其栖息地的资源(空间、食物、水和配偶)。这反过来又有助于预测人口将如何应对不断变化和支离破碎的景观。这项研究将为理解一个群体-区域物种的进化提供一个范例，也将建立确定种群如何与景观联系在一起的新方法。这些工具对有效保护其他野生动物物种具有普遍适用性。