LTREB - Long Term Studies of African Lions

在接下来的十年里，主要的研究人员将对坦桑尼亚塞伦盖蒂国家公园和恩戈罗恩戈罗火山口的狮子进行长期的生态、人口统计和家谱记录。这些种群已经是世界上研究得最好的脊椎动物之一，但狮子的预期寿命很长，而且狮子的种群规模对生态扰动的反应很慢。这些记录的扩展将产生三个重要后果。首先，将通过收集更完整和广泛的关于未成熟物种的生存、繁殖和物理增长率的数据来确定小规模环境异质性与当地承载能力之间的关系。了解这种关系将有可能回答各种各样的研究问题，包括(a)地盘性在狮子种群调节中的作用，(b)地盘性、熟悉度和亲属关系对雌性分散模式的影响，(c)地盘邻居串通在多大程度上阻止潜在的新移民定居，以及(d)生殖后雌性对其年轻同伴的繁殖率的影响。其次，延长对狮子的长期研究将允许在面临迫在眉睫的生态变化时对这些种群进行持续监测。通过记录人口的变化和身体增长的模式，就有可能衡量塞伦盖蒂周围人口的巨大增长所带来的影响。对恩戈罗恩戈罗火山口数据的维护将进一步阐明在一个小种群中长期近亲繁殖的后果。对这两个种群的持续测量对于监测全球气候变化的影响将是非常宝贵的。第三，通过保持长期记录，PI及其合作者将能够将非常详细的背景数据纳入横向研究，这些研究将获得其他来源的资助。至少，这些调查将包括宿主-寄生虫进化、内分泌学和行为的研究。狮子项目不仅将进行基础研究，而且还将有实际应用。狮子的长期数据将与塞伦盖蒂生态监测项目收集的所有可用数据一起纳入塞伦盖蒂的一个新的GIS项目。

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.