Naha Dipanjan, Dash Suraj Kumar, Chettri Abhisek, Roy Akashdeep, Sathyakumar Sambandam
Endangered Species Management, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
PeerJ. 2020 Jul 2;8:e9399. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9399. eCollection 2020.
Loss of forest cover, rise in human populations and fragmentation of habitats leads to decline in biodiversity and extinction of large mammals globally. Elephants, being the largest of terrestrial mammals, symbolize global conservation programs and co-occur with humans within multiple-use landscapes of Asia and Africa. Within such shared landscapes, poaching, habitat loss and extent of human-elephant conflicts (HEC) affect survival and conservation of elephants. HEC are severe in South Asia with increasing attacks on humans, crop depredation and property damage. Such incidents reduce societal tolerance towards elephants and increase the risk of retaliation by local communities. We analyzed a 2-year dataset on crop depredation by Asian elephants ( = 380) events in North Bengal (eastern India). We also explored the effect of landscape, anthropogenic factors (area of forest, agriculture, distance to protected area, area of human settlements, riverine patches and human density) on the spatial occurrence of such incidents.Crop depredation showed a distinct nocturnal pattern (22.00-06:00) and majority of the incidents were recorded in the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Results of our spatial analysis suggest that crop depredation increased with an increase in the area of forest patches, agriculture, presence of riverine patches and human density. Probability of crop depredation further increased with decreasing distance from protected areas. Villages within 1.5 km of a forest patch were most affected. Crop raiding incidents suggest a deviation from the "high-risk high-gain male biased" foraging behavior and involved proportionately more mixed groups (57%) than lone bulls (43%). Demographic data suggest that mixed groups comprised an average of 23 individuals with adult and sub adult females, bulls and calves. Crop depredation and fatal elephant attacks on humans were spatially clustered with eastern, central and western parts of North Bengal identified as hotspots of HEC. Our results will help to prioritize mitigation measures such as prohibition of alcohol production within villages, improving condition of riverine patches, changing crop composition, fencing agriculture fields, implement early warning systems around protected areas and training local people on how to prevent conflicts.
森林覆盖面积减少、人口增长以及栖息地破碎化导致全球生物多样性下降和大型哺乳动物灭绝。大象作为陆地最大的哺乳动物，是全球保护计划的象征，在亚洲和非洲的多用途景观中与人类共存。在这些共享景观中，偷猎、栖息地丧失以及人象冲突（HEC）的程度影响着大象的生存和保护。在南亚，人象冲突很严重，对人类的攻击、庄稼损毁和财产破坏不断增加。此类事件降低了社会对大象的容忍度，并增加了当地社区报复的风险。我们分析了印度东部北孟加拉邦亚洲象（n = 380）造成的庄稼损毁事件的两年数据集。我们还探讨了景观、人为因素（森林面积、农业用地、到保护区的距离、人类定居点面积、河流斑块和人口密度）对此类事件空间发生情况的影响。庄稼损毁呈现出明显的夜间模式（22:00至06:00），且大多数事件记录于季风季节和季风后季节。我们的空间分析结果表明，庄稼损毁随着森林斑块面积、农业用地、河流斑块的存在以及人口密度的增加而增加。随着距保护区距离的减小，庄稼损毁的可能性进一步增加。距离森林斑块1.5公里内的村庄受影响最大。庄稼劫掠事件表明，其偏离了“高风险高收益的雄性偏向”觅食行为，且涉及的混合群体（57%）比例高于独居雄象（43%）。人口统计数据表明，混合群体平均由23头个体组成，包括成年和亚成年雌性、雄象和幼象。庄稼损毁和大象对人类的致命攻击在空间上聚集，北孟加拉邦的东部、中部和西部被确定为人象冲突的热点地区。我们的研究结果将有助于确定缓解措施的优先级，如在村庄内禁止生产酒精、改善河流斑块状况、改变作物组成、对农田进行围栏、在保护区周围实施预警系统以及培训当地人如何预防冲突。
