Trans-Kalahari Predator Programme, WildCRU, Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, Cnr. Borrowdale Road/Sandringham Drive, Alexandra Park, P.O. Box CY 140, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jan 12;13(1):95. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-25020-9.
Many large predator populations are in decline globally with significant implications for ecosystem integrity and function. Understanding the drivers of their decline is required to adequately mitigate threats. Trophy hunting is often cited as a tool to conserve large mammal populations but may also have negative impacts if not well managed. Here we use a spatially implicit, individual based model to investigate the threats posed to African lion populations by poorly managed trophy hunting and additive anthropogenic mortality such as poaching and retaliatory killing. We confirm the results of previous studies that show that lion trophy hunting can be sustainable if only older male lions are hunted, but demonstrate that hunting becomes unsustainable when populations are exposed to additional anthropogenic mortality, as is the case for most free ranging populations. We show that edge effects can be a critical determinant of population viability and populations that encompass well protected source areas are more robust than those without. Finally, errors in aging of hunted lions by professional trophy hunters may undermine the sustainability of the age-based quota setting strategies that are now widely used to manage lion trophy hunting. The effect of aging errors was most detrimental to population persistence in the ≥ 6 and ≥ 7 year-old age thresholds that are frequently used to define suitably aged lions for hunting. Resource managers should limit offtakes to older demographics and additionally take a precautionary approach when setting hunting quotas for large carnivore populations that are affected by other sources of anthropogenic mortality, such as bush-meat poaching, retaliatory killing and problem animal control.
许多大型捕食者种群在全球范围内数量下降，这对生态系统的完整性和功能有重大影响。为了充分减轻威胁，了解其减少的驱动因素是必要的。狩猎奖杯常被认为是保护大型哺乳动物种群的一种工具，但如果管理不善，也可能产生负面影响。在这里，我们使用一种空间隐含的、基于个体的模型来研究管理不善的狩猎奖杯和额外的人为死亡率（如偷猎和报复性杀戮）对非洲狮种群构成的威胁。我们证实了之前的研究结果，即如果只猎杀老年雄狮，狩猎奖杯可以是可持续的，但也表明，当种群面临额外的人为死亡率时，狩猎就变得不可持续，这是大多数自由放养种群的情况。我们表明，边缘效应可能是种群生存能力的关键决定因素，包含受良好保护的源区的种群比没有源区的种群更健壮。最后，专业狩猎奖杯猎人对被猎杀的狮子的年龄鉴定错误可能会破坏目前广泛用于管理狩猎奖杯的基于年龄的配额设置策略的可持续性。在年龄阈值为 6 岁及以上和 7 岁及以上的情况下，年龄鉴定错误对种群的持续生存最为不利，这些年龄阈值常用于定义适合狩猎的狮子。资源管理者应限制对老年群体的捕杀，并在受到其他人为死亡率（如偷猎、报复性杀戮和问题动物控制）影响的大型食肉动物种群中设置狩猎配额时采取预防措施。
