Jun 29 2008
“the perfect storm” and how it applies to lion conservation
Some of the best lion research to date has come out of Tanzania, often in association with Dr Craig Packer. The most recent findings to be published are (I think) no exception. Scientists from the universities of Illinois, California (Davis) and Minnesota looked at the impact on lions of canine distemper virus outbreaks in Serengeti and Ngorogoro in 1994 and 2001. They found a fascinating relationship between climatic conditions, prey and blood parasites.
The story by the way is very engaging, and has a catchy title. Click here to see the press release.
An international research team, including University of Minnesota researcher Craig Packer, has found the first clear example of how climate extremes, such as the increased frequency of droughts and floods expected with global warming, can create conditions in which diseases that are tolerated individually may converge and cause mass die-offs of livestock or wildlife
Colleen’s comment on my previous post refers to this study. I think generally climate change is important to african wildlife conservation. Perhaps one of the reasons why it doesn’t receive much attention on these blogs is because 1)there are other threats to wildlife that could be more significant and 2)climate change is someting that we as field conservationists can’t do very much about. Like you Colleen, I will be interested to see what people have to say about these findings.
Technorati : lion research, lions, pathology
2 responses so far
Thank you Seamus for posting this.
I guess I’m hoping (perhaps unrealistically and definitely without any knowledge to have such bold hopes) that vets in Africa can come up with some way to immunize for some viral infections or whatever as one thing for sure, the industrialized nations are going to keep going on their destruction path without any care for Africa so some proactive planning on those conditions that have any chance of being planned for might be a good thing. ex) canine distemper which the nat geo article said wiped out 30% of lions in Serengeti in 1994 and similar numbers in Ngorongoro Crater in 2001, i.e., give them a better chance to adapt to changing conditions
Actually, sorry, the research article that the National Geo article is based on can be found here, a scientific journal called PlosOne
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0002545
it does suggest strategies such as reducing tick loads immediately following droughts.
thanks.