Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
Long‐Term Monitoring of Hunting Signs Reveals Complex Spatiotemporal Patterns of Hunting Activities in an Unprotected African Rainforest
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
Long‐Term Monitoring of Hunting Signs Reveals Complex Spatiotemporal Patterns of Hunting Activities in an Unprotected African Rainforest
Do you wish to request the book?
Long‐Term Monitoring of Hunting Signs Reveals Complex Spatiotemporal Patterns of Hunting Activities in an Unprotected African Rainforest
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
Long‐Term Monitoring of Hunting Signs Reveals Complex Spatiotemporal Patterns of Hunting Activities in an Unprotected African Rainforest
2025
Overview
Aim The long‐term survival of many mammal populations relies on how effectively we mitigate the threat from unsustainable hunting. Yet, hunting activities are often cryptic, especially in unprotected forests. Here, we investigate whether hunting signs can help understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of hunting activities in an unprotected African rainforest and examine how landscape characteristics predict various indicators of hunting. Location Ebo forest, Cameroon, Central Africa. Methods We recorded hunting signs (e.g., shotgun cartridges, wire snares, direct sightings) systematically on 23 parallel recce lines across the Ebo forest from 2008 to 2023. We assigned hunting data and spatial covariates (e.g., elevation, distance to village) to 1 × 1 km grid cells and applied generalised linear mixed models to predict the effects of these covariates on hunting. Results We found that hunting was commonplace across the entire Ebo forest. The best‐fitting models for each hunting sign differed considerably. Shotgun cartridges and all hunting signs combined increased significantly from 2016 to 2023 and varied non‐linearly along the village‐distance gradient. We found a progressive inversion of hunting trends along the anthropogenic gradient; between 2016 and 2018, wire snares declined with the distance to road but from 2021, they increased along the road‐distance gradient. Wire snares showed a similar pattern along the river‐distance gradient. Our results also revealed differences between shotgun hunting and snaring along the altitudinal gradient; the effect of elevation was positive on shotgun cartridges and negative on wire snares. Hunting signs and trails decreased significantly with increasing terrain ruggedness. Main Conclusions Using long‐term monitoring data, we show how hunting patterns change dynamically with respect to human and landscape‐related features. We also demonstrate complex hunting patterns along the gradient of human influence, therefore questioning the use of proxies such as the distance to human settlements and even topography to account for hunting pressure. Overall, we show that hunting sign data can reveal the spatiotemporal patterns of hunting, crucial in evaluating the effectiveness of conservation interventions and guiding the prioritisation of limited conservation resources.
