IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Dalerum, F.; Somers, M.J.; Kunkel, K.E.; Cameron, E.Z. | |
| The potential for large carnivores to act as biodiversity surrogates in southern Africa | |
| 2008 Biodiversity and Conservation (17): 2939-2949 | |
Biodiversity in southern Africa is globally extraordinary but threatened by human activities. Although there are considerable biodiversity conservation initiatives within the region, no one has yet assessed the potential use of large carnivores in such actions. Surrogate approaches have often been suggested as one such way of capitalizing on large carnivores. Here we review the suitability of the large carnivore guild (i.e., brown hyaena _Hyaena hyaena_, spotted hyaena _Crocuta crocutta_, cheetah _Acinonyx jubatus_, leopard _Panthera pardus_, lion _Panthea leo_ and African wild dog _Lycaon pictus_) to act as surrogate species for biodiversity conservation in southern Africa. We suggest that the guild must be complete for the large carnivores to fully provide their role as ecological keystones. The potential for large carnivores to act as umbrella and indicator species seems limited. However, self-sustaining populations of large carnivores may be useful indicators of unfragmented landscapes. Moreover, diversity within the large carnivore guild may reflect overall biodiversity. Although the global appeal of the large African carnivores makes them important international flagships, we stress that international conservation funding must be linked to local communities for them to be important also locally. In summary, we suggest that the flagship value of these large carnivores should be used to promote biodiversity conservation in the region, and that the suggested relationship between large carnivore diversity and overall biodiversity is empirically tested. Finally we suggest that direct conservation activities should focus on enhancing the keystone values of large carnivores through complete guild conservation and restoration. |
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