Why Don't We Ask? A Complementary Method for Assessing the Status of Great Apes

Abstract

Species conservation is difficult. Threats to species are typically high and immediate. Effective solutions for counteracting these threats, however, require synthesis of high quality evidence, appropriately targeted activities, typically costly implementation, and rapid re-evaluation and adaptation. Conservation management can be ineffective if there is insufficient understanding of the complex ecological, political, socio-cultural, and economic factors that underlie conservation threats. When information about these factors is incomplete, conservation managers may be unaware of the most urgent threats or unable to envision all consequences of potential management strategies. Conservation research aims to address the gap between what is known and what knowledge is needed for effective conservation. Such research, however, generally addresses a subset of the factors that underlie conservation threats, producing a limited, simplistic, and often biased view of complex, real world situations. A combination of approaches is required to provide the complete picture necessary to engage in effective conservation. Orangutan conservation (Pongo spp.) offers an example: standard conservation assessments employ survey methods that focus on ecological variables, but do not usually address the socio-cultural factors that underlie threats. Here, we evaluate a complementary survey method based on interviews of nearly 7,000 people in 687 villages in Kalimantan, Indonesia. We address areas of potential methodological weakness in such surveys, including sampling and questionnaire design, respondent biases, statistical analyses, and sensitivity of resultant inferences. We show that interview-based surveys can provide cost-effective and statistically robust methods to better understand poorly known populations of species that are relatively easily identified by local people. Such surveys provide reasonably reliable estimates of relative presence and relative encounter rates of such species, as well as quantifying the main factors that threaten them. We recommend more extensive use of carefully designed and implemented interview surveys, in conjunction with more traditional field methods.

Evaluating the use of local ecological knowledge to monitor hunted tropical-forest wildlife over large spatial scales

“…We also achieved robust estimates of faunal depletion at both the landscape and regional scale, which is vital for evaluating progress against conservation targets yet often infeasible using conventional ecological techniques (Jones 2011). Consequently, our findings confirm that using LEK-based interviews can be effective and efficient for monitoring vulnerable tropical-forest species over large spatial scales (Meijaard et al 2011, Turvey et al 2014, Abram et al 2015. To our knowledge, this is the first study using LEK to make quantitative predictions for the depletion levels of multiple hunted species.…”

“…For instance, we would expect hunters to occasionally kill large mammal species if present nearby. We cross-validated responses (Meijaard et al 2011), including familiarity with species and hunting activity, by later asking our boat crews, all of whom had experience of forest extraction and were often present during interviews, and inhabitants of neighboring settlements about the hunting patterns of a given settlement. On no occasion did we perceive, nor boat crews or residents report, any suspicion over the reliability of the depletion distances reported.…”

“…Consequently, CPUE estimates are often available from only a single community (e.g., Sirén et al 2004), limiting the potential to make reliable predictions about the status of exploited populations across broader geographic scales. Developing methods that can be replicated around many communities is therefore vital for effective conservation strategies because multiple human and biophysical drivers affect wildlife populations (Meijaard et al 2011). …”

“…Empirical observations and ecological knowledge of local experts can provide cost-effective and robust understanding of natural systems that is equal to or exceeds that of current scientific knowledge (Gagnon and Berteaux 2009, Meijaard et al 2011, Beaudreau and Levin 2014. Integrating LEK into monitoring and management (Moller et al 2004) is also appealing because it can enhance community participation (Ban et al 2009) and provide novel insights into sustainable resource use (Berkes and Folke 1998).…”

Rattan: The decline of a once-important non-timber forest product in Indonesia

“…Export ban policy Results from repeat interviews data (Meijaard et al 2011), but overall we think that our approach is justified and that the results provide a good reflection of reality. …”