Crop variety and prey richness affect spatial patterns of human-wildlife conflicts in Iran's Hyrcanian forests

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Laura Meinecke
  • Mahmood Soofi
  • Maraja Riechers
  • Igor Khorozyan
  • Hamid Hosseini
  • Stefan Schwarze
  • Matthias Waltert

Human-wildlife conflicts are a growing problem in Iran and pose a notable challenge to conservation efforts in its Hyrcanian forest region. We surveyed 162 households in 45 villages at six study sites to understand species-specific patterns of human-wildlife conflicts and people's reactions to these conflicts, and to suggest appropriate conflict mitigation measures. By using generalized linear and generalized linear mixed models, we analysed socio-economic and ecological variables to find key determinants of the main conflict types around seven species of mammals. We also incorporated prey richness data (i.e. red deer, roe deer and wild boar) in our models. Wild boar (Sus scrofa) and grey wolf (Canis lupus) were found to be the primary conflict species in regard to reported levels of severity and crop loss by wild boars was reported by 97% of households. Logistic regression showed that these conflicts were positively influenced by the variety of cultivated crop species and the size of land under cultivation. Generalized linear mixed models showed that human-wild boar conflicts increased in areas with lower human density, vegetation cover and distance to protected areas. Wolf conflicts were most frequent in the form of sheep attacks (81%) compared to goat (11%) and cattle (8%) attacks. Our analysis showed that the attacks were positively influenced by village and elevation and increased in areas with lower prey richness and those located closer to, or inside, protected areas. Several cost-effective mitigation measures should be used complementarily according to their effectiveness. These include avoiding planting of palatable seasonal crops near protected areas and establishing physical barriers around crop fields to lower large-scale crop damage by wild boars. To reduce livestock predation by wolf, it will be essential to address the restoration of the wild prey community and efficiency of animal husbandry practices.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal for Nature Conservation
Volume43
Pages (from-to)165-172
Number of pages8
ISSN1617-1381
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.06.2018

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Digital Leadership Routines: Understanding the Role of Artifacts for Digital Leadership Development
  2. Academic discipline and risk perception of technologies
  3. Framework for Smart Services as a premise for collaboration in the era of manufacturing services
  4. Introduction - How prenatal diagnosis is entangled in historical and social contexts
  5. A transdisciplinary framework for university-industry collaboration in establishing a social business model
  6. Spatial interpretation of high-resolution environmental proxy data of the Middle Pleistocene Palaeolithic faunal kill site Schöningen 13 II-4, Germany
  7. "I put in effort, therefore I am passionate": Investigating the path from effort to passion in entrepreneurship
  8. Solidarität und Affekt
  9. 15 Self-starting behavior at work
  10. Inter-annual rainfall variability in Central Asia - A contribution to the discussion on the importance of environmental stochasticity in drylands
  11. Handbook of Philosophy of Management
  12. Sufficiency and Subsistence – On two important concepts for Sustainable Development
  13. Quantitative Bildinhaltsanalyse
  14. (Not) Thinking about you
  15. Open Innovation Networks
  16. Die Mutter
  17. Introduction
  18. Dynamic tensile properties and microstructural evolution of extruded EW75 magnesium alloy at high strain rates
  19. The Stakes of the Stage
  20. Determinants of international trade, production, and licensing - Results from econometric studies using firm level data from manufacturing industries in Lower Saxony, Germany
  21. Misperceiving bullshit as profound is associated with favorable views of Cruz, Rubio, Trump and conservatism
  22. Communicative contributions and communicative genres
  23. Siedlungsqualität, Wohnqualität
  24. “Coastal landscapes for whom? Adaptation challenges and landscape management in Cornwall”