An assessment of field techniques to estimate lion presence and abundance

Abstract

Large carnivores play a critical role in regulating ecosystems through predation and competition. Many large carnivores however have experienced a large population decline. The common causes of the decline are human related including change in land use, legal and illegal killing and human carnivore conflicts. Due to similar reason lion populations have declined for over 40% between 1993 and 2015. A declining population trend calls for immediate interventions, but available lion population data are problematic. Many lion populations estimate lack measure of accuracy or may not be repeatable. This study identified and classified techniques used to estimate lion presence and abundance, into direct and indirect count categories. Further, from each category one field experiment was conducted to test their corroboration to literature findings. Literature and field experiments suggested that direct count techniques are superior to the indirect methods. Therefore, this study encourages the use of direct count methods to guide local and international lion conservation efforts, or else deploy reliable indirect method including DNA analysis and peer reviewed literatures.