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Draft:The Metapopulation Initiative (The Cheetah Metapopulation Project)

  • Comment: While there is extensive citation support for the objectives of this project, there is no citation support to verify the existence or impact of this project. More sources are needed that mention this specific project. WikiDan61ChatMe!ReadMe!! 13:21, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

The Cheetah Metapopulation Project (CMP) was established in 2011 to ensure the genetic and demographic integrity of the cheetah metapopulation by coordinating translocations between protected areas (PA) and increasing resident range through reintroductions into the species’ historical distribution.

Metapopulation Management edit

In Africa, the socioeconomic development of the past 30 years has resulted in significant habitat loss and fragmentation [1][2][3]. Many of its large mammal populations have declined over the same period [4], including the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) [5]. Often naturally occuring at low densitities, large mammals are vulnerable to habitat fragmentation. Habitat protection through a network of designated PAs remains a dominant strategy for future biodiversity conservation [6]. Protected areas can host subpopulations that persist in a metapopulation, where the movement of individuals between subpopulations can halt or potentially reverse local extinction otherwise resulting from stochastic or random processes (sink–source dynamics) [7][8]. The African PA network has the potential to conserve metapopulations; however, its effectiveness depends on maintaining connectivity between subpopulations [9][10][11].

According to the extent to which Africa is predicted to experience a loss of suitable habitat for most species by 2050 [12], its landscape will likely become progressively fragmented. One effect of this process is the isolation of PAs, which may disrupt connectivity and increase species’ risk of extinction [13][9][10][14][15]. Where connectivity cannot be restored, conservation translocations and metapopulation management can alleviate the effects of fragmentation. In a managed metapopulation, natural dispersal is substituted or supplemented by human-mediated movement of selected individuals between remnant fragments of suitable habitat [16]. Metapopulation management enhances dispersal success, demographic rescue effects, and genetic diversity to maintain long-term population viability of low-density species inhabiting small fragments [17]. Examples of such managed metapopulations include black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) [18][19] and white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) [20] in Southern and East Africa and African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) in South Africa [21][22].

Cheetah Reintroductions in South Africa and the Metapopulation edit

 
Conservation translocation coordinated by The Metapopulation Initiative of a female cheetah from Rietvlei Nature Reserve to Makutsi Game Reserve.

A cheetah metapopulation management strategy for Southern Africa was implemented in 2009, 15 years after its initial proposal [23]. However, cheetah reintroductions were largely uncoordinated and opportunistic before establishing the CMP. Between 1965 and 1998, for instance, 188 ‘problem’ cheetahs from Namibia were reintroduced into nine South African reserves. Cheetahs persisted in only two, with surplus animals from one reserve translocated to 17 additional metapopulation reserves [24][25]. The low success rate of these earlier reintroductions was attributed to inadequate fencing, reduced prey populations, and high densities of competing predators in many reserves [26]. By 1998, new regulations in Namibia prohibited further cheetah reintroductions into South Africa. The National Cheetah Conservation Forum incentivised commercial farmers to live-capture cheetahs caught killing livestock on their properties between 1999 and 2009 to reduce cheetah-farmer conflict. However, this scheme was discontinued as free-roaming cheetahs of high conservation value were excessively harvested [23]. By 2012, the 345 cheetahs translocated to establish a metapopulation had decreased to 217 after supplementation from free-roaming populations halted. This number doubled after the transition from managing independent cheetah populations to a coordinated metapopulation [27][28].

By coordinating cheetah translocations between participating reserves, The Metapopulation Initiative helps private and state wildlife custodians manage inbreeding, overpopulation, and local extinction on their lands while identifying new areas of suitable cheetah habitat for reintroduction. As of 2017, metapopulation management of wild cheetahs had enabled the re-establishment of a viable population comprising >460 cheetahs on 63 fenced reserves distributed as five geographic clusters across South Africa [27]. The project has since expanded from South Africa to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and India.

References edit

  1. ^ Brooks, Thomas M.; Mittermeier, Russell A.; Mittermeier, Cristina G.; Fonseca, Gustavo A. B. da; Rylands, Anthony B.; Konstant, William R.; Flick, Penny; Pilgrim, John; Oldfield, Sara; Magin, Georgina; Hilton-Taylor, Craig (2002). "Habitat loss and extinction in the hotspots of biodiversity". Conservation Biology. 16 (4): 909–923. Bibcode:2002ConBi..16..909B. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.00530.x. ISSN 0888-8892. JSTOR 3061167. S2CID 44009934.
  2. ^ Newmark, William D.; Hough, John L. (2000). "Conserving wildlife in Africa: integrated conservation and development projects and beyond". BioScience. 50 (7): 585–592. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2000)050[0585:CWIAIC]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0006-3568.
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  4. ^ Craigie, Ian D.; Baillie, Jonathan E. M.; Balmford, Andrew; Carbone, Chris; Collen, Ben; Green, Rhys E.; Hutton, Jon M. (2010). "Large mammal population declines in Africa's protected areas". Biological Conservation. 143 (9): 2221–2228. Bibcode:2010BCons.143.2221C. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.06.007. ISSN 0006-3207.
  5. ^ Durant, Sarah M.; Mitchell, Nicholas; Groom, Rosemary; Pettorelli, Nathalie; Ipavec, Audrey; Jacobson, Andrew P.; Woodroffe, Rosie; Böhm, Monika; Hunter, Luke T. B.; Becker, Matthew S.; Broekhuis, Femke; Bashir, Sultana; Andresen, Leah; Aschenborn, Ortwin; Beddiaf, Mohammed (2017). "The global decline of cheetah Acinonyx jubatus and what it means for conservation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 114 (3): 528–533. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114..528D. doi:10.1073/pnas.1611122114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 5255576. PMID 28028225.
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  8. ^ Hanski, Ilkka (1999). Metapopulation Ecology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198540656.
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  10. ^ a b Fahrig, Lenore; Merriam, Gray (1994). "Conservation of fragmented populations". Conservation Biology. 8 (1): 50–59. Bibcode:1994ConBi...8...50F. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1994.08010050.x. ISSN 0888-8892. JSTOR 2386720.
  11. ^ Kool, Johnathan T.; Moilanen, Atte; Treml, Eric A. (2013). "Population connectivity: recent advances and new perspectives". Landscape Ecology. 28 (2): 165–185. Bibcode:2013LaEco..28..165K. doi:10.1007/s10980-012-9819-z. hdl:11343/282796. ISSN 1572-9761. S2CID 254738765.
  12. ^ Visconti, Piero; Pressey, Robert L.; Giorgini, Daniele; Maiorano, Luigi; Bakkenes, Michel; Boitani, Luigi; Alkemade, Rob; Falcucci, Alessandra; Chiozza, Federica; Rondinini, Carlo (2011). "Future hotspots of terrestrial mammal loss". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 366 (1578): 2693–2702. doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0105. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 3140729. PMID 21844048.
  13. ^ Caughley, Graeme (1994). "Directions in conservation biology". Journal of Animal Ecology. 63 (2): 215–244. Bibcode:1994JAnEc..63..215C. doi:10.2307/5542. ISSN 0021-8790. JSTOR 5542. S2CID 59390962.
  14. ^ Macarthur, Robert H.; Wilson, Edward O. (1967). The Theory of Island Biogeography (REV - Revised ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-08836-5. JSTOR j.ctt19cc1t2.
  15. ^ Reed, David H. (2004). "Extinction risk in fragmented habitats". Animal Conservation. 7 (2): 181–191. Bibcode:2004AnCon...7..181R. doi:10.1017/S1367943004001313. ISSN 1367-9430.
  16. ^ Hanski, Ilkka; Simberloff, Daniel (1997), Hanski, Ilkka; Gilpin, Michael E. (eds.), "The metapopulation approach, its history, conceptual domain and application to conservation", Metapopulation Biology: Ecology, Genetics and Evolution, San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 5–26, doi:10.1016/B978-012323445-2/50003-1, ISBN 978-0-12-323445-2
  17. ^ Akçakaya, H. Resit; Mills, Gus; Doncaster, C. Patrick (2007). Macdonald, David W.; Service, Katrina (eds.). The Role of Metapopulations in Conservation. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 64–84. ISBN 978-1-4051-2249-8.
  18. ^ Brooks, P. M. (1989). "Proposed conservation plan for the black rhinoceros Diceros bicomis in South Africa, the TBVC* states and Namibia". Koedoe. 32 (2): 1–30. doi:10.4102/koedoe.v32i2.470. ISSN 2071-0771.
  19. ^ Foose, T J.; Lacy, R. C.; Brett, R.; Seal, U. S. (1993). "Kenya Black Rhino Metapopulation Workshop Report". Apple Valley: IUCN/SSC Captive Breeding Specialist Group.
  20. ^ Emslie, Richard H.; Amin, Rajan; Kock, Richard (2009). "Guidelines for the in situ Re-introduction and Translocation of African and Asian Rhinoceros". Gland: IUCN.
  21. ^ Davies-Mostert, Harriet T. (2010). The managed metapopulation approach for African wild dog Lycaon pictus conservation in South Africa (PhD Thesis). Oxford: University of Oxford.
  22. ^ Mills, M. G. L.; Ellis, Susie; Woodroffe, Rosie; Maddock, Anthony; Stander, Philip; Rasmussen, Grey; Pole, Alistair; Fletcher, Pat; Bruford, Mike; Wildt, David; Macdonald, David; Seal, Ulysses (eds.) (1998). "Population and Habitat Viability Assessment for the African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus) in Southern Africa. Final Workshop Report"(PDF). Apple Valley: IUCN/SSC Captive Breeding Specialist Group.
  23. ^ a b Lindsey, P. A.; Marnewick, Kelly; Davies-Mostert, Harriet T.; Rehse, T.; Mills, Michael G. L.; Brummer, R.; Buk, Kenneth; Traylor-Holzer, Kathy; Morrison, Kerryn; Mentzel, C.; Daly, Brenda (eds.) (2009). "Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) Population Habitat Viability Assessment Workshop Report". Johannesburg: The Endangered Wildlife Trust.
  24. ^ Hofmeyr, M.; van Dyk, G (1998). "Cheetah introductions to two north west parks: case studies from Pilanesberg National Park and Madikwe Game Reserve", Proceedings of a Symposium on Cheetahs as Game Ranch Animals, Onderstepoort, 23&24 October 1998, Bern: IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group, pp 60–71.
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  27. ^ a b Buk, Kenneth G.; van der Merwe, Vincent C.; Marnewick, Kelly; Funston, Paul J. (2018). "Conservation of severely fragmented populations: lessons from the transformation of uncoordinated reintroductions of cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) into a managed metapopulation with self-sustained growth". Biodiversity and Conservation. 27 (13): 3393–3423. Bibcode:2018BiCon..27.3393B. doi:10.1007/s10531-018-1606-y. ISSN 1572-9710. S2CID 254279227.
  28. ^ Magliolo, M.; Naude, V. N.; van der Merwe, V. C.; Prost, S.; Orozco-terWengel, P.; Burger, P. A.; Kotze, A.; Grobler, J. P.; Dalton, D. L. (2023). "Simulated genetic efficacy of metapopulation management and conservation value of captive reintroductions in a rapidly declining felid". Animal Conservation. 26 (2): 250–263. Bibcode:2023AnCon..26..250M. doi:10.1111/acv.12821. ISSN 1367-9430. S2CID 252459238.
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