ForSE · Forest snitches: Elephant spatial behavioral strategies as revelators of human activities in a poaching context

Forest snitches: Elephant spatial behavioral strategies as revelators of human activities in a poaching context

Large herbivores shape the structure and function of landscapes and environments in which they occur but today 60% of remaining large-bodied herbivores are threatened with extinction and nearly all suffer from range reduction due mostly to habitat loss and overhunting. The loss of these ecosystem engineers resonates across the landscape, leading to large-scale consequences such as shift in vegetation patterns contributing to global warming. The most precipitous declines have occurred among African forest elephants, which mostly inhabit Central African rainforests. Forest elephant numbers dropped by 62% from 2002 to 2011, and current populations persist at only 10% of their potential size, occupying less than 25% of their potential range. Latest censuses have estimated of ~95 000 remaining forest elephants, with Gabon containing over 65% of the remaining individuals. Forest elephants play a main role in the ecosystem and their loss would most likely contribute to the homogenization of forest structure and decreases in carbon stocks. For elusive species inhabiting remote habitat (e.g, dense forests only accessible by foot), human disturbance is challenging to measure, especially when human activities are illegal. While some areas are well monitored by wildlife law enforcement patrols, large areas remain poorly monitored due to the lack of human and material resources, their inaccessibility and the difficulty to conduct remote census. However, improvements in tracking technologies allow high-precision recordings of animal space use over extended periods, independent of weather and light conditions, even in inaccessible regions where field data collection is complex. Given the known importance of perceived risk from humans in shaping animal behaviour, tracking changes in space use of forest elephants in combination with data collected in the field, could reveal constraints induced by illegal human activities and help map these risks to better plan anti-poaching strategies. The main assumption of the ForSE project is that poaching pressure is a major force influencing fine scale space use of forest elephants, and its influence on elephant’s behaviour can be used to reveal covert human activities. Our approach is based on fine scale analyses of space use of collared forest elephants and existing information on poaching pressure to 1) identify correlated suites of space use traits – Spatial Behavioural Strategies (SBS) – and validate their use as poaching pressure proxies ; 2) identify space use characteristics associated with a heightened mortality risk and identify collared elephants at risk; 3) Develop an interactive tool for decision support based on the results of objectives 1 and 2; 4) Disseminate these results to improve anti-poaching actions.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз