Bird tolerance to humans in open tropical ecosystems

AbstractAnimal tolerance towards humans can be a key factor facilitating wildlife–human coexistence, yet traits predicting its direction and magnitude across tropical animals are poorly known. Using 10,249 observations for 842 bird species inhabiting open tropical ecosystems in Africa, South America, and Australia, we find that avian tolerance towards humans was lower (i.e., escape distance was longer) in rural rather than urban populations and in populations exposed to lower human disturbance (measured as human footprint index). In addition, larger species and species with larger clutches and enhanced flight ability are less tolerant to human approaches and escape distances increase when birds were approached during the wet season compared to the dry season and from longer starting distances. Identification of key factors affecting animal tolerance towards humans across large spatial and taxonomic scales may help us to better understand and predict the patterns of species distributions in the Anthropocene.</jats:p

Modelling of the Response of Sable Antelope (Hippotragus Niger Niger) to Trophy Hunting: A GIS and Remote Sensing Approach

The main objective of this study was to test the impact of hunting on sable (Hippotragus niger niger) habitat selection using a combination of satellite remotely sensed data and GIS based spatial analysis. Firstly, we used remotely sensed vegetation cover estimated by the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) to test whether hunted sables selected more closed woodland habitats, i.e., an uncharacteristic habitat for sable, while those not exposed to hunting selected more open woodland habitats, i.e., characteristic habitat for sable. Secondly, we tested whether terrain based visibility modelled from remotely sensed data explains sable Flight Initiation Distance (FID), an indicator of fearfulness in hunted animal species, better than vegetation based visibility measured in the field. We tested these hypotheses in a study area consisting of one hunting area and one non-hunting area of northwestern Zimbabwe. Our results show that hunted sables significantly (P < 0.05) selected more closed woodland than those not exposed to hunting. Our results also show that remotely sensed Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Digital Elevation Model (ASTER DEM) derived visibility could explain FID of sable better than field measured vegetation based visibility. Results of this thesis open new ground in spatial ecological understanding of wildlife species such as the threatened sable antelope

Modelling of the response of sable antelope (Hippotragus niger niger) to trophy hunting: A GIS and remote sensing approach

RP-PCP grant/Project ECO#3,The main objective of this study was to test the impact of hunting on sable (Hippotragus niger niger) habitat selection using a combination of satellite remotely sensed data and GIS based spatial analysis. Firstly, we used remotely sensed vegetation cover estimated by the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) to test whether hunted sables selected more closed woodland habitats, i.e., an uncharacteristic habitat for sable, while those not exposed to hunting selected more open woodland habitats, i.e., characteristic habitat for sable. Secondly, we tested whether terrain based visibility modelled from remotely sensed data explains sable Flight Initiation Distance (FID), an indicator of fearfulness in hunted animal species, better than vegetation based visibility measured in the field. We tested these hypotheses in a study area consisting of one hunting area and one non-hunting area of northwestern Zimbabwe. Our results show that hunted sables significantly (P < 0.05) selected more closed woodland than those not exposed to hunting. Our results also show that remotely sensed Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Digital Elevation Model (ASTER DEM) derived visibility could explain FID of sable better than field measured vegetation based visibility. Results of this thesis open new ground in spatial ecological understanding of wildlife species such as the threatened sable antelope,Ministère Français des Affaires Etrangères through the French Embassy in Zimbabwe (RP-PCP grant/Project ECO#3