Over the past few decades, the range and population of large carnivorous animals in Africa have significantly decreased. Although accurate population status assessments and trend monitoring are necessary for conservation planning and the management of threatened species, there is evidence that biodiversity monitoring may not be evenly distributed or taking place where it is most needed.
In order to examine trends in research effort and pinpoint information gaps, new research recently published in the open access, peer-reviewed journal PeerJ offers the first comprehensive examination of African large carnivore population assessments published during the past two decades (2000–2020). The article offers an informed, comprehensive framework for decision-making that is currently absent in the field of African large carnivores, helping to direct funds, research investment, and priorities. It is a timely review of a crucial conservation topic.
Generalized linear models and generalized linear mixed models were used by researchers from the Universities of Oxford, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’s Endangered Wildlife Trust, and Panthera to uncover biases related to author nationality, land use type, and taxonomic classification in previously published studies on African large carnivores.
“Despite the fact that the striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) has the largest continental distribution, research is skewed heavily in favor of lions (Panthera leo). Even if this is somewhat explained by its relatively limited distribution, African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) likewise displayed a negative bias in research attention: “The authors, please.” Our findings show that more cheetah population estimates are urgently needed, especially in northern, western, and central Africa. “Studies in Ethiopia and Chad should be prioritized in particular because of their extensive country ranges.”
Assessments of the population reflect a bias in favor of southern and eastern Africa, especially South Africa and Kenya. Africa’s north, west, and center are typically underrepresented. While non-protected and trophy hunting sites received less academic attention, protected areas for photography and tourism that are managed by the government have attracted the majority of studies.
41% of research outside of South Africa did not have authors from the country under study, indicating that there are considerable prospects for capacity building. There are chances for more research on most species and in most nations, and significant portions of Africa are still underrepresented in the literature.
In order to help researchers, practitioners, and policymakers focus their future research and monitoring agendas, the authors created recommendations for measures aimed at addressing the discovered biases.
Recommendations
Reducing the detected regional and taxonomic biases in population assessments would contribute to ensuring that all species and regions important for conservation have a sufficient information base available, perhaps improving their outlook for conservation.
African large carnivores conservation management faces urgent challenges as a result of geographic biases in research and assessments. As a result, it should be prioritized for future research to focus on northern, western, and central Africa.
Given the substantial country ranges of large carnivores they support and their potential significance for the preservation of these species, Angola, the DRC, South Sudan, and Chad should receive more focus than the other 26 nations that don’t currently have any published estimates.
A top goal should be giving researchers and practitioners in under-represented areas more training in large carnivore survey and monitoring procedures. Only 59% of papers published outside of South Africa included a co-author from the study nation, which supports the idea that academics from more developed regions predominately lead research in poor nations and highlights the critical need for such capacity-building initiatives.
Donors and foreign researchers should do everything possible to incorporate local scientists, students, and practitioners in future assessments, including supporting their efforts to enhance their capacity by providing them with tools, funds, and training. To guarantee that conservation research takes place where it is most needed, sponsors and supporters of conservation should support initiatives in understudied areas and for understudied species.
On a species level, striped hyena population evaluations are required, and additional African wild dog population estimates are crucial, especially in light of the species’ endangered status. Such efforts are especially necessary in nations that have been designated as being vital for the species but have not recently had evaluations done (e.g., Botswana and Tanzania).
More cheetah population surveys are urgently needed, especially in northern, western, and central Africa. Studies in Ethiopia and Chad should be prioritized in particular because of their extensive country ranges. It is advised to explore citizen science-based approaches when developing and standardizing cheetah population monitoring methodologies, as was done with the African wild dog.
