A local ecological knowledge-based assessment of anthropodependence for large mammals in anthropogenic landscapes
Abstract
Humans have shaped the environment through landscape transformation, disturbance, and resource exploitation, leading to major habitat modification and fragmentation. Mammal species are massively threatened by these changes and their diversity implies various responses to human disturbance. It is essential to understand the conditions for their persistence in human-dominated landscapes, and the drivers of humans-mammals' coexistence to apply relevant conservation measures. The Garden Route Biosphere Reserve, in South Africa, a mosaic landscapes where human activities and wildlife meet, is an ideal site to examine how anthropogenic attributes influence wildlife occurrence. To maximise our area coverage through a replicable, low-cost protocol, we designed an online survey aimed at residents to investigate the effect of landscape metrics and property attributes the availability and type of anthropogenic resources, the integrity and type of natural habitats, structural disturbances and interferenceson the persistence of mammals in such environments. We collected data from 247 respondents and modelled the drivers of occurrence for 14 mammal species (>500 g). We found speciesspecific responses to synthetic variables describing anthropogenic features in the studied landscape and used the anthropodependence framework to categorise species profiles. We showed that human disturbance combined with the availability of anthropogenic resources and natural habitats defined various categories of species profiles, which should require differential conservation actions. Local ecological knowledge proved promising to understand conditions for mammal persistence in human-dominated landscapes. This method also allowed researchers to engage with a wide variety of stakeholders, thus creating a hub for knowledge exchange.
Origin | Files produced by the author(s) |
---|