Fig 1.
Map of Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem, northern Tanzania.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA, black outline) is a large component of the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem (blue outline), Tanzania. While most of the NCA is multi-use, allowing pastoralists to coexist with wildlife, there are several areas reserved for wildlife only (in orange). The area of this study (dotted black line) encompassed around 4,800 km2 of the central expanse of the NCA, from and including the Ngorongoro Crater westward to Ndutu and the border of Serengeti National Park to the north. Basemap reprinted from ESA WorldCover project 2020 under a CC BY 4.0 license.
Table 1.
Covariates used for modelling habitat selection of lions in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania.
Fig 2.
Landscape-scale habitat selection by females, resident male and nomadic male lions.
Slope coefficients (points) and 95% confidence intervals (lines) associated with landscape-scale habitat selection (RSF) for three classes of lion (females, resident males and nomadic males) in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. Blue points are habitat covariates and orange points are human-related covariates. Light grey points are those for which the 95% confidence interval overlaps zero. Dens_human represents intensity of human activity while Dist_human represents distance to human activity. Coefficients are estimated separately for seasons (wet and dry). All lions selected for habitats with high cover. Females and resident males selected for areas close to rivers. Females selected for areas of higher greenness (EVI) while resident males selected for flatter terrain (TRI), both during the dry season. Lions showed little landscape-scale selection for distances from human activity, with only females selecting for lower human densities and nomadic males selecting for higher distances away from humans, both during the wet season.
Fig 3.
Local-scale habitat selection by females, nomadic males and resident male lions.
Slope coefficients (points) and 95% confidence intervals (lines) associated with local-scale habitat selection (SSF) for three classes of lion (females, nomadic males and resident males) in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. Blue points are habitat covariates, orange points are human-related covariates, light grey points are those for which 95% confidence interval overlap zero. Coefficients are estimated using all data points (top), then separately for seasons (wet and dry) and time of day (night and day). Dens_human represents intensity of human activity while Dist_human represents distance to human activity. The lions’ habitat selection strengths varied with season and time of day, with generally less avoidance for humans in the dry season and at night.
Fig 4.
Lion selection for cover when either far or near to humans between diel periods.
Local-scale selection (SSF) for cover when either far (2km) or near (500m) to humans (colors) based on the time of day (facets) for female, resident male and nomadic male lions. We have standardized the y-axis to the level of females for ease of interpretation, please note that means and 95% confidence intervals for resident and nomadic males extend beyond this level. All lions showed a positive relationship with the amount of cover, regardless of distance to humans. Females selected for significantly more cover near humans during the day, with no other statistically significant relationships observed.
Fig 5.
Lion selection for degree of cover when either far or near to humans between seasons.
Local-scale selection (SSF) for cover when either far (2km) or near (500m) to humans (colors) based on season (facets) for female, resident male and nomadic male lions. We have standardized the y-axis to the level of females for ease of interpretation, please note that means and 95% confidence intervals for resident and nomadic males extend beyond this level. Females selected for significantly more cover near humans during the wet season and resident males selected for significantly less cover near humans during the wet season, with no other statistically significant relationships observed.
Fig 6.
Resistance map for nomadic male lions across NCA’s multiuse landscape.
Resistance map for NCA nomadic males, which are not member of a pride and therefore likely in dispersal mode. Landscape resistance is assessed in both wet and dry seasons and show major regions, ward centers (circles) and villages (triangles). Relative resistance values, based on local-scale habitat selection model, SSF, are overall higher in the wet season (red = highest resistance/avoidance, yellow = neutral, blue = least resistance/attraction). Relative resistance was generally highest in areas of dense human settlement, immediately to the west and north of the Ngorongoro Crater, and in steeper terrain. The areas of least resistance to lions occurred in forested habitats just north and south of these more intensely human-occupied areas.