Quantifying drivers of human-elephant conflict in an arid savanna ecosystem

整个非洲大陆农业和人类住区的迅速扩张减少了自然大象的栖息地，使其变得支离破碎，导致剩余种群被迫与人类进行更密切的接触。空间利用和资源竞争的更大重叠已被证明是激烈的人象冲突(HEC)的催化剂，气候变化进一步加剧了这一冲突，并对生物多样性保护和人类福祉构成重大威胁(Shaffer等人)。2019年，前排。伊科。实施有效的大象和人类共存战略需要全面了解HEC的生态和社会组成部分，但这些通常是在孤立的情况下研究的。在这里，我们将使用社会-生态框架，通过整合来自两个学科的数据集来解决紧迫的保护问题(Collins等人。2011年前。伊科。环境。)。该项目将探索Makgadikgadi Pans国家公园(MPNP)西部边界上HEC的驱动因素，该公园是博茨瓦纳报告的HEC数量最高的地方。有关大象分布和掠夺作物的现有数据将与来自运动激活相机、遥感和探索社区资源利用和对大象的态度的调查的行为数据结合使用。将讨论四个关键目标：1.确定大象的分布和活动如何受到生态和地理变量(如栖息地类型、地形、农业和住区)的影响。利用历史记录和遥感数据量化生境破碎化对HEC事件的影响。探索农业活动的时空模式，以及当地社区对大象和HEC.4的看法。使用社会-生态框架来确定冲突的景观驱动因素，并使用基于个体的建模来预测土地利用和气候变化对人类健康的影响。结果将支持利益相关者通过制定有效的缓解策略和指定野生动物走廊来减少HEC和改善人类福祉

The rapid expansion of agriculture and human settlement across the African continent has reduced andfragmented natural elephant habitat, resulting in remaining populations being forced into closer contactwith people. Greater overlap in space use and competition for resources has proved a catalyst for intensehuman-elephant conflict (HEC), which is further exacerbated by climate change and presents a majorthreat to biodiversity conservation and human wellbeing (Shaffer et al. 2019, Front. Ecol. Evol.).Implementing effective strategies for coexistence between elephants and humans requires acomprehensive understanding of the ecological and social components of HEC but these have commonlybeen studied in isolation.Here, we will use a social-ecological framework by integrating datasets from both disciplines to address achallenging conservation issue (Collins et al. 2011 Front. Ecol. Environ.). This project will explore the driversof HEC on the western boundary of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park (MPNP), which has the highestreported HEC numbers in Botswana. Existing data on elephant distribution and crop raiding will be used inconjunction with behavioural data from motion-activated cameras, remote sensing, and surveys exploringcommunity resource-use and attitudes to elephants. Four key objectives will be addressed:1. Determine how elephant distribution and activity is influenced by ecological and geographicalvariables (e.g. habitat type, topography, agriculture and settlements).2. Quantify the influence of habitat fragmentation on HEC events using historical records and remotesensing data.3. Explore the spatiotemporal patterns of agricultural activity, and the perceptions of localcommunities with regard to elephants and HEC.4. Use a social-ecological framework to identify landscape drivers of conflict and employ individualbased modelling to predict the effects of changing land-use and climate on HEC.The outputs will support stakeholders in reducing HEC and improving human welfare through thedevelopment of effective mitigation strategies and designation of wildlife corridors