Neil Carter recently published an article in Conservation Biology titled, “Climate change, disease range shifts, and the future of the African lion.” Carter and an international team of researchers looked at the possible effects of climate change on cattle disease in Africa and the implications on cattle-lion conflict in eastern Africa.
The team’s results are striking in that they show huge shifts in disease prevalence, which would also shift cattle production into many lion strongholds. The paper is a clarion call to the conservation community to begin preparing for those shifts.