new publication: Mapping Bushmeat Hunting Pressure in Central Africa

new publication: Mapping Bushmeat Hunting Pressure in Central Africa

February 1, 2016

Biotropica_Ziegler_Fa_Wegmann_bushmeat_hunting_pressure_2016

Hunting pressure modelled for Central Africa (Biotropica link)

Our analysis on mapping bushmeat hunting pressure in Africa based on various co-variates, such as land cover, is now available online. Is is related to our article in NATURE Scientific Reports.

Hunting and trade of wild animals for their meat (bushmeat), especially mammals, is commonplace in tropical forests worldwide. In West and Central Africa, bushmeat extraction has increased substantially during recent decades. Currently, such levels of hunting pose a major threat to native wildlife. In this paper, we compiled published data on hunting offtake of mammals, from a number of studies conducted between 1990 and 2007 in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Republic of Congo. From these data sources, we estimated annual extraction rates of all hunted species and analyzed the relationship between environmental and anthropogenic variables surrounding each hunting rate and levels of bushmeat extraction. We defined hunting pressure as a function of bushmeat offtake and number of hunted species and confirm that hunting pressure is significantly correlated with road density, distance to protected areas and population density. These correlations are then used to map hunting pressure across the Congo Basin. We show that predicted risk areas show a patchy distribution throughout the study region and that many protected areas are located in high-risk areas. We suggest that such a map can be used to identify areas of greatest impact of hunting to guide large-scale conservation planning initiatives for central Africa.

 

Stefan Ziegler, John E. Fa, Christian Wohlfart, Bruno Streit,Stefanie Jacob and Martin Wegmann (2016) Mapping Bushmeat Hunting Pressure in Central Africa. Biotropica. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/btp.12286/abstract

you may also like:

EORC board meeting 2025

EORC board meeting 2025

This week, the annual board meeting of our EORC (Earth Observation Research Cluster) took place, bringing together the members to discuss and deliberate on several strategic and organisational issues. The meeting served as a platform for board members to share...

Congratulations to Alexandra Bell on Her Successful PhD Defense!

Congratulations to Alexandra Bell on Her Successful PhD Defense!

We are pleased to congratulate Alexandra Bell on the successful defense of her PhD thesis, which explored the role of Earth Observation (EO) data in political decision-making. In her research, Alexandra examined how EO technologies interact with political processes,...

New PhD student Lukas Block

New PhD student Lukas Block

We are pleased to welcome Lukas Block as a new PhD student.  Lukas holds a Master's degree in Geological Sciences from the Free University of Berlin, where he investigated the stratigraphic record of the Anthropocene in lacustrine sediments. He has gained...

New Article on Biogeomorphic Tipping Points

New Article on Biogeomorphic Tipping Points

EORC PI Florian Betz co-authored a publication on biogeomorphic tipping points arising from the DFG funded project "fluvial biogeomorphology across multiple scales". In the publication led by PhD student Isabell Becker from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, a...

Press Release by University of Würzburg about our Arctic research

Press Release by University of Würzburg about our Arctic research

Our work in the Arctic on Svalbard was covered by the press team of the University of Würzburg. It covers our focus on studying the region’s ecosystems and the effects of climate change on its environment using Earth Observation methods. Please see the german version...