Decreased ungulate density in Bardiya National Park, West Nepal, and the implications for increasing tiger populations. A comment on Thapa et al. (2015)

Lunenburg, Mari van; Kral, Michelle J.C.; Alphen, Jacques J. M. van

doi:10.1080/03949370.2016.1145147

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 8 publications

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“…Firstly, there is increased safety: deployment of armed forces in Nepal's national parks reduced poaching (Achary, 2016; Aryal et al, 2017). Secondly, with the removal of cattle from the protected area in the 1970s, and the resettlement of local people out of the Park and the associated cessation of logging, grazing and cutting largely ceased and the vegetation composition consequently changed, with unpalatable Sal trees Shorea robusta now dominating and displacing grassy vegetation to a large extent (Dinerstein, 1979a,b; Dinerstein, 1980; van Lunenburg et al, 2017). The main types of human–wildlife interactions in the buffer zone of the Park are (1) occasional killing of people by elephants (multiple casualties each year), (2) crop use by large herbivores, particularly elephants but also by rhinoceroses, deer and wild boar Sus scrofa , and (3) livestock depredation by carnivores (primarily leopards; Thapa, 2010).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Marginal farmers carry the burden of damage caused by Asian elephants Elephas maximus in Bardiya National Park, Nepal

Prins

Liefting

Jong

2021

Oryx

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In areas where farmland borders protected areas, wildlife may be attracted to crops and cause substantial financial damage for farmers. Elephants, in particular, can destroy a year's harvest in a single night, and can also cause damage to buildings and other farm structures. Few studies have examined whether damage caused by wild elephants increases social inequalities in farmer communities. We interviewed settlement leaders and subsistence rice farmers living in the buffer zone of Bardiya National Park, Nepal, to examine (1) the variation and spatial distribution of wealth within the farmer community, (2) the severity and spatio-temporal distribution of damage inflicted by Asian elephants Elephas maximus, and (3) the willingness to insure against such damage. We investigated whether particular societal strata are disproportionally affected by negative interactions with elephants. We found that farmers near the boundary between agricultural and wilderness areas were significantly poorer and had smaller landholdings than those further into the cultivated lands. Concomitantly, damage to crops and houses was more frequent nearer the wilderness–agriculture boundary than further away from it. Hence, in the buffer zone of Bardiya National Park, farmers near the wilderness–cultivation boundary, with small landholdings, had a relatively higher cost of elephant damage, yet were less willing to pay for an insurance scheme. We infer that in areas where both social inequality and damage caused by wildlife are spatially structured, conservation success may cause economic hardship for the local community, particularly for the poorer class. We discuss causes of the current lack of communal mitigation measures against the damage caused by elephants in the Park, and potential solutions.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Marginal farmers carry the burden of damage caused by Asian elephants Elephas maximus in Bardiya National Park, Nepal

Prins

Liefting

Jong

2021

Oryx

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A random encounter model for wildlife density estimation with vertically oriented camera traps

He,

Rowcliffe,

Lin

et al. 2024

Remote Sens Ecol Conserv

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The random encounter model (REM) estimates animal densities from camera‐trap data by correcting capture rates for a set of biological variables of the animals (average group size, speed and activity level) and characteristics of camera sensors. The REM has been widely used for setups in which cameras are mounted on trees or other structures aimed parallel to the ground. Here, we modify the REM formula to accommodate an alternative field of view acquired with vertically oriented camera traps, a type of deployment used to avoid camera theft and damage. We show how the calculations can be adapted to account for a different detection zone with minor modifications. We find that the effective detection area can be close to a rectangle with dimensions influenced by the properties of the Fresnel lens of the camera's motion sensor, the body mass of different species and the height of the camera. The other REM parameters remain the same. We tested the modified REM (vREM) by applying it to wildlife data collected with vertically oriented camera traps in Bardia National Park, Nepal. We further validated that the effective detection area for the camera model used was best approximated as a rectangle shape using maximum likelihood estimation. Density estimates obtained broadly matched independent density estimates for nine species from the previous studies in Bardia with varying body sizes by four orders of magnitude. We conclude that these modifications allow the REM to be effectively used for mammal density estimation for species with a wide range of body sizes, with vertically oriented camera traps.

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Enhancing subtropical monsoon grassland management: Investigating mowing and nutrient input effects on initiation of grazing lawns

Thapa,

de Jong,

Hof

et al. 2023

Global Ecology and Conservation

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Decreased ungulate density in Bardiya National Park, West Nepal, and the implications for increasing tiger populations. A comment on Thapa et al. (2015)

Cited by 5 publications

References 8 publications

Marginal farmers carry the burden of damage caused by Asian elephants Elephas maximus in Bardiya National Park, Nepal

Marginal farmers carry the burden of damage caused by Asian elephants Elephas maximus in Bardiya National Park, Nepal

A random encounter model for wildlife density estimation with vertically oriented camera traps

Enhancing subtropical monsoon grassland management: Investigating mowing and nutrient input effects on initiation of grazing lawns

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