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Science 21 January 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5708, pp. 365 - 366
DOI: 10.1126/science.1108599
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Perspectives

ECOLOGY:
A Leap for Lion Populations

Esa Ranta and Veijo Kaitala

Textbook models of predator population dynamics illustrate that steady increases in predator population size correlate with smooth increases in the numbers of prey. However, as Ranta and Kaitala reveal in their Perspective, these models ignore the importance of social behavior in determining population fluctuations. For example, in the lions of the Serengeti plains and woodlands, behavior of lionesses within the pride influences population growth (Packer et al.).

The authors are in the Integrative Ecology Unit of the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland. E-mail: esa.ranta{at}helsinki.fi

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)