Habitat Corridor Conservation
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A metapopulation, or “population of populations” is an increasingly utilized concept in conservation whereby, rather than simply conserving a single isolated population, dynamics can occur on a broad enough scale to ensure that the large-scale processes of population dynamics, such as dispersal, immigration, and the maintenance of source and sink populations, can continue largely unimpeded.
Fundamental to this concept is the maintenance of connectivity between sub-populations, which typically requires a matrix of protected areas that allow for dispersal, exchange, and repopulation of areas in the event of local extinctions. This is not typically possible for carnivore populations in many ecosystems worldwide due to habitat loss and fragmentation resulting in small isolated populations; however Zambia has numerous areas well over the recommended minimum of 10,000 km2 to maintain viable carnivore populations, thus the protection of these habitats is of the utmost priority. While national parks are strictly protected, human pressure in and around these areas in the form of encroachment, poaching, wildlife conflict and persecution, as well as extractive industries such as mining, biofuel, and other development threaten the viability of these systems.
Eastern Zambia’s network of National Parks and Game Management Areas (GMA) that collectively comprise a connected area of approximately 72,000 km2 managed for wildlife and providing potential connectivity between eastern and southern African populations of wild dogs and other species .This region is one of several immense tracts of land managed for wildlife in Zambia.
Given that large carnivores such as wild dogs are not only wide-ranging but also high-profile species with considerable public appeal, effectively utilizing them in large scale ecosystem conservation efforts has substantial potential. Protection of carnivore habitats in turn protects a myriad of other species also dependent on systems that may not garner as much attention as the larger more popular species; thus ZCP conservation efforts employ species such as wild dogs to serve as the ‘poster child of corridor conservation’ in Zambia.
Given African wild dogs’ wide-ranging behavior, their susceptibility to edge effects, and the potentially negative influence of larger competitor species on their abundance and distribution, the conservation of large connected areas with in-situ populations of wild dogs has been recommended as a priority by the IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group. The Group identified the research and conservation of populations in Zambia as a priority in their 1997 action plan (Woodroffe and Ginsberg 1997), as it is one of six countries in the region estimated to hold viable populations of wild dogs, with the most recent country-wide estimate of 440 animals (32 packs), almost entirely concentrated in the massive Kafue and Eastern Zambia ecosystems (IUCN/SSC, 2007). However, with nearly 33% of the country comprised of national parks and Game Management Areas (GMAs), Zambia not only has some of the most significant populations of wild dogs remaining on the continent, but also the potential to substantially increase populations of this and all other carnivore species through restoration efforts (Zambia Wildlife Authority, in press).
African wild dogs: The poster child of corridor conservation in Zambia
