Oberosler Valentina, Tenan Simone, Zipkin Elise F, Rovero Francesco
Tropical Biodiversity Section MUSE - Museo delle Scienze Trento Italy.
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Pavia Pavia Italy.
Ecol Evol. 2020 Apr 16;10(9):3881-3894. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6048. eCollection 2020 May.
Protected areas (PAs) in the tropics are vulnerable to human encroachment, and, despite formal protection, they do not fully mitigate anthropogenic threats to habitats and biodiversity. However, attempts to quantify the effectiveness of PAs and to understand the status and changes of wildlife populations in relation to protection efficiency remain limited. Here, we used camera-trapping data collected over 8 consecutive years (2009-2016) to investigate the yearly occurrences of medium-to-large mammals within the Udzungwa Mountains National Park (Tanzania), an area of outstanding importance for biological endemism and conservation. Specifically, we evaluated the effects of habitat and proxies of human disturbance, namely illegal hunting with snares and firewood collection (a practice that was banned in 2011 in the park), on species' occurrence probabilities. Our results showed variability in species' responses to disturbance: The only species that showed a negative effect of the number of snares found on occurrence probability was the Harvey's duiker, a relatively widespread forest antelope. Similarly, we found a moderate positive effect of the firewood collection ban on only the suni, another common antelope, and a negative effect on a large opportunistic rodent, the giant-pouched rat. Importantly, we found evidence of temporal stability in occurrence probability for all species over the 8-year study period. Our findings suggest that well-managed PAs can sustain mammal populations in tropical forests. However, variability among species in their responses to anthropogenic disturbance necessitates consideration in the design of conservation action plans for multiple taxa.
热带地区的保护区容易受到人类入侵的影响，尽管受到了正式保护，但它们并不能完全减轻人为因素对栖息地和生物多样性的威胁。然而，量化保护区有效性以及了解野生动物种群与保护效率相关的现状和变化的尝试仍然有限。在此，我们利用连续8年（2009 - 2016年）收集的相机陷阱数据，调查了乌尊格瓦山国家公园（坦桑尼亚）内中大型哺乳动物的年度出现情况，该地区对于生物特有性和保护具有极其重要的意义。具体而言，我们评估了栖息地和人类干扰指标，即非法套猎和砍柴（该行为于2011年在该公园被禁止）对物种出现概率的影响。我们的结果显示了物种对干扰的反应存在差异：在所发现的套猎数量对出现概率产生负面影响的唯一物种是哈维氏麂羚，一种分布相对广泛的森林羚羊。同样，我们发现砍柴禁令仅对另一种常见羚羊——桑岛新小羚产生了适度的积极影响，而对一种大型机会主义啮齿动物——巨囊鼠产生了负面影响。重要的是，我们发现所有物种在8年研究期内出现概率具有时间稳定性的证据。我们的研究结果表明，管理良好的保护区能够维持热带森林中的哺乳动物种群。然而，物种对人为干扰的反应存在差异，这在为多个分类群设计保护行动计划时需要加以考虑。
