Examining Evident Interdisciplinarity Among Prides of Lion Researchers
Lions (Panthera leo) have experienced dramatic population declines in recent decades and today, inhabit just a fraction of their historic range. The reasons behind these declines are many, but conflict with humans, principally motivated by lion depredation of livestock, is among the most influential...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-04-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fevo.2018.00049/full |
| _version_ | 1819295834679803904 |
|---|---|
| author | Robert A. Montgomery Robert A. Montgomery Kevin C. Elliott Kevin C. Elliott Kevin C. Elliott Matthew W. Hayward Matthew W. Hayward Matthew W. Hayward Steven M. Gray Joshua J. Millspaugh Shawn J. Riley Bernard M. Kissui Daniel B. Kramer Daniel B. Kramer Remington J. Moll Tutilo Mudumba Eric D. Tans Arthur B. Muneza Leandro Abade Leandro Abade Jacalyn M. Beck Claire F. Hoffmann Charlie R. Booher David W. Macdonald |
| author_facet | Robert A. Montgomery Robert A. Montgomery Kevin C. Elliott Kevin C. Elliott Kevin C. Elliott Matthew W. Hayward Matthew W. Hayward Matthew W. Hayward Steven M. Gray Joshua J. Millspaugh Shawn J. Riley Bernard M. Kissui Daniel B. Kramer Daniel B. Kramer Remington J. Moll Tutilo Mudumba Eric D. Tans Arthur B. Muneza Leandro Abade Leandro Abade Jacalyn M. Beck Claire F. Hoffmann Charlie R. Booher David W. Macdonald |
| author_sort | Robert A. Montgomery |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Lions (Panthera leo) have experienced dramatic population declines in recent decades and today, inhabit just a fraction of their historic range. The reasons behind these declines are many, but conflict with humans, principally motivated by lion depredation of livestock, is among the most influential. Recent calls within the scientific community have identified that wicked problems like these should be addressed using interdisciplinary approaches. Here we examined the extent to which human-lion conflict research has been interdisciplinary. We conducted an extensive review of the literature and uncovered 88 papers, published between 1990 and 2015, that assessed human-lion interaction and the ecology of lions exposed to anthropogenic disturbance. While human-lion conflict research experienced near-exponential growth (y = 8E-194e0.222x, R2 = 0.76) across this time period, the number of co-authors engaged in this research changed very little (x = 3.28, se = 0.19). Moreover, co-authors of this research tended to be affiliated with units from just three highly-related STEM disciplines (biology, wildlife management, and environmental science). Comparatively, co-authors affiliated with units in the humanities and social sciences occurred in <4% of all papers examined. Our analysis also presents a novel framework that positions human-lion conflict research as having not two dimensions, as has been commonly conceptualized, but five dimensions. These dimensions include not only the human and the lion dimensions, but also the livestock, wild prey, and environmental dimensions. None of the papers that we evaluated concurrently studied all five of these dimensions to determine their impact on human-lion conflict. Furthermore, despite the fact that human-lion conflict research was primarily developed by co-authors from STEM disciplines, the most common dimension evaluated was the human dimension which requires social science and humanities expertise. Our analysis indicates that interdisciplinarity among human-lion conflict research has historically been low. These low levels of interdisciplinarity observed from 1990 to 2015 however, are not necessarily representative of the ongoing efforts to develop more inclusive research teams. Thus, we discuss the implications of this research for the development of sustainable solutions to conserve lions and preserve human well-being and identify potential avenues forward to create more interdisciplinary prides of lion researchers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T04:48:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-396f2acf1a6944278eee3c9d3a229958 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-701X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T04:48:31Z |
| publishDate | 2018-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-396f2acf1a6944278eee3c9d3a2299582022-12-21T17:14:36ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution2296-701X2018-04-01610.3389/fevo.2018.00049347983Examining Evident Interdisciplinarity Among Prides of Lion ResearchersRobert A. Montgomery0Robert A. Montgomery1Kevin C. Elliott2Kevin C. Elliott3Kevin C. Elliott4Matthew W. Hayward5Matthew W. Hayward6Matthew W. Hayward7Steven M. Gray8Joshua J. Millspaugh9Shawn J. Riley10Bernard M. Kissui11Daniel B. Kramer12Daniel B. Kramer13Remington J. Moll14Tutilo Mudumba15Eric D. Tans16Arthur B. Muneza17Leandro Abade18Leandro Abade19Jacalyn M. Beck20Claire F. Hoffmann21Charlie R. Booher22David W. Macdonald23Research on the Ecology of Carnivores and their Prey Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesWildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomLyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesDepartment of Philosophy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesDepartment of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesSchool of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, AustraliaCentre for African Conservation Ecology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South AfricaCentre for Wildlife Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South AfricaResearch on the Ecology of Carnivores and their Prey Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesWildlife Biology Program, W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United StatesDepartment of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States0Center for Wildlife Management Studies, The School for Field Studies, Beverly, NJ, United StatesDepartment of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States1James Madison College, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesResearch on the Ecology of Carnivores and their Prey Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesResearch on the Ecology of Carnivores and their Prey Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States2Collections Management Division, Michigan State University Libraries, East Lansing, MI, United StatesResearch on the Ecology of Carnivores and their Prey Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesResearch on the Ecology of Carnivores and their Prey Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesWildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomResearch on the Ecology of Carnivores and their Prey Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesResearch on the Ecology of Carnivores and their Prey Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesResearch on the Ecology of Carnivores and their Prey Laboratory, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United StatesWildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomLions (Panthera leo) have experienced dramatic population declines in recent decades and today, inhabit just a fraction of their historic range. The reasons behind these declines are many, but conflict with humans, principally motivated by lion depredation of livestock, is among the most influential. Recent calls within the scientific community have identified that wicked problems like these should be addressed using interdisciplinary approaches. Here we examined the extent to which human-lion conflict research has been interdisciplinary. We conducted an extensive review of the literature and uncovered 88 papers, published between 1990 and 2015, that assessed human-lion interaction and the ecology of lions exposed to anthropogenic disturbance. While human-lion conflict research experienced near-exponential growth (y = 8E-194e0.222x, R2 = 0.76) across this time period, the number of co-authors engaged in this research changed very little (x = 3.28, se = 0.19). Moreover, co-authors of this research tended to be affiliated with units from just three highly-related STEM disciplines (biology, wildlife management, and environmental science). Comparatively, co-authors affiliated with units in the humanities and social sciences occurred in <4% of all papers examined. Our analysis also presents a novel framework that positions human-lion conflict research as having not two dimensions, as has been commonly conceptualized, but five dimensions. These dimensions include not only the human and the lion dimensions, but also the livestock, wild prey, and environmental dimensions. None of the papers that we evaluated concurrently studied all five of these dimensions to determine their impact on human-lion conflict. Furthermore, despite the fact that human-lion conflict research was primarily developed by co-authors from STEM disciplines, the most common dimension evaluated was the human dimension which requires social science and humanities expertise. Our analysis indicates that interdisciplinarity among human-lion conflict research has historically been low. These low levels of interdisciplinarity observed from 1990 to 2015 however, are not necessarily representative of the ongoing efforts to develop more inclusive research teams. Thus, we discuss the implications of this research for the development of sustainable solutions to conserve lions and preserve human well-being and identify potential avenues forward to create more interdisciplinary prides of lion researchers.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fevo.2018.00049/fullconservationhuman-lion conflictinterdisciplinarylionPanthera leo |
| spellingShingle | Robert A. Montgomery Robert A. Montgomery Kevin C. Elliott Kevin C. Elliott Kevin C. Elliott Matthew W. Hayward Matthew W. Hayward Matthew W. Hayward Steven M. Gray Joshua J. Millspaugh Shawn J. Riley Bernard M. Kissui Daniel B. Kramer Daniel B. Kramer Remington J. Moll Tutilo Mudumba Eric D. Tans Arthur B. Muneza Leandro Abade Leandro Abade Jacalyn M. Beck Claire F. Hoffmann Charlie R. Booher David W. Macdonald Examining Evident Interdisciplinarity Among Prides of Lion Researchers Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution conservation human-lion conflict interdisciplinary lion Panthera leo |
| title | Examining Evident Interdisciplinarity Among Prides of Lion Researchers |
| title_full | Examining Evident Interdisciplinarity Among Prides of Lion Researchers |
| title_fullStr | Examining Evident Interdisciplinarity Among Prides of Lion Researchers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Examining Evident Interdisciplinarity Among Prides of Lion Researchers |
| title_short | Examining Evident Interdisciplinarity Among Prides of Lion Researchers |
| title_sort | examining evident interdisciplinarity among prides of lion researchers |
| topic | conservation human-lion conflict interdisciplinary lion Panthera leo |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fevo.2018.00049/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT robertamontgomery examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT robertamontgomery examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT kevincelliott examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT kevincelliott examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT kevincelliott examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT matthewwhayward examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT matthewwhayward examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT matthewwhayward examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT stevenmgray examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT joshuajmillspaugh examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT shawnjriley examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT bernardmkissui examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT danielbkramer examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT danielbkramer examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT remingtonjmoll examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT tutilomudumba examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT ericdtans examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT arthurbmuneza examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT leandroabade examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT leandroabade examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT jacalynmbeck examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT clairefhoffmann examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT charlierbooher examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers AT davidwmacdonald examiningevidentinterdisciplinarityamongpridesoflionresearchers |