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Science 21 January 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5708, pp. 390 - 393
DOI: 10.1126/science.1105122
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Research Articles

Ecological Change, Group Territoriality, and Population Dynamics in Serengeti Lions

Craig Packer,1* Ray Hilborn,2 Anna Mosser,1 Bernard Kissui,1 Markus Borner,3 Grant Hopcraft,3 John Wilmshurst,4 Simon Mduma,5 Anthony R. E. Sinclair6

Territorial behavior is expected to buffer populations against short-term environmental perturbations, but we have found that group living in African lions causes a complex response to long-term ecological change. Despite numerous gradual changes in prey availability and vegetative cover, regional populations of Serengeti lions remained stable for 10- to 20-year periods and only shifted to new equilibria in sudden leaps. Although gradually improving environmental conditions provided sufficient resources to permit the subdivision of preexisting territories, regional lion populations did not expand until short-term conditions supplied enough prey to generate large cohorts of surviving young. The results of a simulation model show that the observed pattern of "saltatory equilibria" results from the lions' grouping behavior.

1 Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, Saint Paul, MN 55108, USA.
2 School of Aquatics and Fishery Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
3 Frankfurt Zoological Society, Post Office Box 14935, Arusha, Tanzania.
4 Parks Canada, Ecosystem Services, Winnipeg, MB R3B OR9, Canada.
5 Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute, Box 661, Arusha, Tanzania.
6 Center for Biodiversity Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC VLT 1Z4, Canada.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: packer{at}cbs.umn.edu

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