Mitigating the massive impacts of defaunation on natural ecosystems requires understanding and predicting hunting effort across the landscape. But such understanding has been hindered by the difficulty of assessing the movement patterns of hunters in thick forests and across complex terrain. We statistically tested hypotheses about the spatial distribution of hunting with circuit theory and structural equation models. We used a data set of >7000 known kill locations in Guyana and hunter movement models to test these methods. Comparing models with different resistance layers (i.e., different estimates of how terrain and land cover influence human movement speed) showed that rivers, on average, limited movement rather than serving as transport arteries. Moreover, far more kills occurred close to villages than in remote areas. This, combined with the lack of support for structural equation models that included latent terms for prey depletion driven by past overhunting, suggests that kill locations in this system tended to be driven by where hunters were currently foraging rather than by influences of historical harvest. These analyses are generalizable to a variety of ecosystems, species, and data types, providing a powerful way of enhancing maps and predictions of hunting effort across complex landscapes. 相似文献
Subsistence hunting presents a conservation challenge by which biodiversity preservation must be balanced with safeguarding of human livelihoods. Globally, subsistence hunting threatens primate populations, including Madagascar's endemic lemurs. We used population viability analysis to assess the sustainability of lemur hunting in Makira Natural Park, Madagascar. We identified trends in seasonal hunting of 11 Makira lemur species from household interview data, estimated local lemur densities in populations adjacent to focal villages via transect surveys, and quantified extinction vulnerability for these populations based on species-specific demographic parameters and empirically derived hunting rates. We compared stage-based Lefkovitch with periodic Leslie matrices to evaluate the impact of regional dispersal on persistence trajectories and explored the consequences of perturbations to the timing of peak hunting relative to the lemur birth pulse, under assumptions of density-dependent reproductive compensation. Lemur hunting peaked during the fruit-abundant wet season (March–June). Estimated local lemur densities were roughly inverse to body size across our study area. Life-history modeling indicated that hunting most severely threatened the species with the largest bodies (i.e., Hapalemur occidentalis, Avahi laniger, Daubentonia madagascariensis, and Indri indi), characterized by late-age reproductive onsets and long interbirth intervals. In model simulations, lemur dispersal within a regional metapopulation buffered extinction threats when a majority of local sites supported growth rates above the replacement level but drove regional extirpations when most local sites were overharvested. Hunt simulations were most detrimental when timed to overlap lemur births (a reality for D. madagascariensis and I. indri). In sum, Makira lemurs were overharvested. Regional extirpations, which may contribute to broad-scale extinctions, will be likely if current hunting rates persist. Cessation of anthropogenic lemur harvest is a conservation priority, and development programs are needed to help communities switch from wildlife consumption to domestic protein alternatives. 相似文献
Abstract: Results of many studies show unsustainable levels of bushmeat hunting across West/Central Africa. Nevertheless, these results are usually derived from snapshot sustainability indices in which critical parameters are often taken from the literature. Simple, more informative tools for assessing sustainability are needed. We evaluated the impact of bushmeat hunting across a range of temporal, spatial, and taxonomic scales in a comparison of different measures of sustainability. Over 15 months in 2002–2004 in and around a village close to Equatorial Guinea's Monte Alén National Park, we collected data via a village offtake survey, hunter‐camp bushmeat‐consumption diaries, hunter interviews, and following hunters during hunts. We compared 2003 data with a previous offtake survey (1998–1999) and interview reports back to 1990. In the past 14 years, average distance from the village at which hunters operated remained constant, with hunters switching back and forth between long‐established camps, although trapping effort increased. In the past 5 years, overall offtake and number of active hunters did not change substantially, although catch per unit effort (CPUE) decreased slightly. Although the proportion of the two most commonly trapped species (Cephalophus monticola and Atherurus africanus) and gun‐hunted primates increased in the offtake, species presumably less robust to trapping decreased slightly. Apparent sustainability in economic terms may be masking gradual local extirpation of more vulnerable species before and during this study. Our results suggest that changes in prey profiles and CPUE may be the most accurate indicators of actual sustainability; these indices can be monitored with simple village‐based offtake surveys and hunter interviews to improve community management of bushmeat hunting.相似文献
This paper examines the determinants of illegal waste dumping at the county level in Slovakia (in 77 of 79 counties), using a truncated regression model. It analyzes a unique data-set composed of illegal dumping data provided by the TrashOut platform and sociodemographic data from the national statistical authority.
This study shows that a higher level of expected overall waste production results in a higher rate of illegally dumped waste and a higher number of illegal dumping sites. More precisely, income has a positive impact on the rate of illegal waste dumping, poverty influences the rate of illegal dumping negatively and a higher level of education does not result in more responsible waste management. On the contrary, higher education has a positive influence on the rate of dumping. A negative relationship between costs of illegal waste disposal and dumping rate, as well as a positive relationship between costs of legal waste disposal and dumping rate has been revealed. 相似文献
In Vietnam, Nicotex's site is perhaps the most infamous case of illegal disposal of toxic pesticides near residential areas. In 2013, affected villagers discovered illegal burials of around 1,000 tons of expired pesticides in the Nicotex factory. Organic pesticides were detected in illegal burial areas (IBAs) around 60 times greater than acceptable levels, but no attention was paid to contamination of metals, metalloids, and other classes of organic contaminants, which could be co-contaminants in pesticide formulation. This study assessed the contaminants remaining in the IBAs and surrounding residential areas two years after the source removal conducted in 2014. Additionally, a preliminary health risk assessment from residual contaminants was performed. Nine classes of chemicals including parental pesticides, inorganic and organic degradation byproducts, and metals and metalloids, comprising 123 chemicals were quantified in soil, sediment, and water samples from Nicotex and surrounding residential areas. Although concentrations of organic pesticides were below acceptable levels, arsenic contamination in the soil in a Nicotex IBA named NCT5 and Nap village (NV) exceeded the acceptable level. The enrichment factor and log-probability plot indicate that arsenic enrichment at NV is not from natural sources but is associated with arsenic contamination in NCT5. Arsenic may be a co-contaminant in pesticide manufacturing or an arsenical pesticide, such as monosodium methanearsonate. Arsenic found in NV was toxic arsenate for which the preliminary risk assessment yielded an unacceptable excess carcinogenic risk (1 × 10?4). While all attention was paid to investigate and treat contamination of organic pesticides, it turns out that arsenic is the major existing threat which poses an unacceptable cancer risk in good agreement with the high cancer rate claimed by villagers near Nicotex. This justifies the need for further investigation of the extent of the arsenic contamination and restoration of the contaminated land. 相似文献
Hunted mallards (n = 56) were collected in the Ebro Delta (Spain) in 2007-08 to evaluate the use of feces as a non-invasive monitoring method to study lead shot ingestion. The prevalence of Pb shot ingestion in these birds was 28.6%, and similar to that reported before a ban on Pb shot use in 2003. Lead concentrations in terminal intestinal contents were higher in mallards with Pb shot in their gizzard. Feces Pb concentrations >34 μg/g d.w were indicative of Pb shot ingestion, and background Pb levels were <12.5 μg/g d.w. To discriminate between birds ingesting soil Pb, and those ingesting Pb shot, we correlated Al and Pb levels and showed that mallards with ingested Pb shot in the gizzard stood out as outliers within the regression. Feces Pb-Al relationships can be used as a simple non-invasive tool in monitoring programs regarding Pb shot ingestion in birds. 相似文献