Jean Claude Twahirwa, Deogratias Tuyisingize, Antoine Sekabanza, Paul Twagirimana, Tara S. Stoinski, Richard Muvunyi, Yntze van der Hoek
{"title":"在卢旺达火山国家公园进行了密集的保护工作之后,中、大型食草动物的数量呈积极趋势","authors":"Jean Claude Twahirwa, Deogratias Tuyisingize, Antoine Sekabanza, Paul Twagirimana, Tara S. Stoinski, Richard Muvunyi, Yntze van der Hoek","doi":"10.1002/wlb3.01118","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"It is unclear whether the remarkable recovery of mountain gorillas Gorilla beringei beringei in the Virunga Mountains, East Africa, that followed decades of intensive conservation efforts, is indicative of positive trends in abundance and distribution of other large mammals (meso‐ and megaherbivores). Positive population trends are particularly relevant for globally threatened elephants Loxodonta sp., as conservation and research efforts have predominantly focused on populations that range in lowland savanna ecosystems rather than the smaller but ecologically and genetically unique populations found in the Virunga montane ecosystems. We used marked pellet group counts in dung clearance plots to determine the density/abundance and distribution of three mesoherbivores (buffalo, black‐fronted duiker, bushbuck) and one megaherbivore (elephant) in Volcanoes National Park (VNP; covering part of the Virunga Mountains), Rwanda, in July–September 2008 and 2021. We estimated that elephants and duiker populations saw a minor increase between 2008 and 2021 while densities of buffalo and bushbuck increased substantially over the course of the past decade. We also found no evidence of substantial distributional shifts for elephants but observed increases in densities of the other species in the southwestern parts of the VNP. Overall, density estimates for all species were much higher in both 2008 and 2021 than in a previous survey in 2004, which suggests that meso‐ and megaherbivores have largely recovered from a steep decline in numbers towards the end of the 20th century, possibly benefitting from the same protection efforts that benefitted mountain gorillas.","PeriodicalId":54405,"journal":{"name":"Wildlife Biology","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Positive population trends among meso‐ and megaherbivores follow intensive conservation efforts in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda\",\"authors\":\"Jean Claude Twahirwa, Deogratias Tuyisingize, Antoine Sekabanza, Paul Twagirimana, Tara S. Stoinski, Richard Muvunyi, Yntze van der Hoek\",\"doi\":\"10.1002/wlb3.01118\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"It is unclear whether the remarkable recovery of mountain gorillas Gorilla beringei beringei in the Virunga Mountains, East Africa, that followed decades of intensive conservation efforts, is indicative of positive trends in abundance and distribution of other large mammals (meso‐ and megaherbivores). Positive population trends are particularly relevant for globally threatened elephants Loxodonta sp., as conservation and research efforts have predominantly focused on populations that range in lowland savanna ecosystems rather than the smaller but ecologically and genetically unique populations found in the Virunga montane ecosystems. We used marked pellet group counts in dung clearance plots to determine the density/abundance and distribution of three mesoherbivores (buffalo, black‐fronted duiker, bushbuck) and one megaherbivore (elephant) in Volcanoes National Park (VNP; covering part of the Virunga Mountains), Rwanda, in July–September 2008 and 2021. We estimated that elephants and duiker populations saw a minor increase between 2008 and 2021 while densities of buffalo and bushbuck increased substantially over the course of the past decade. We also found no evidence of substantial distributional shifts for elephants but observed increases in densities of the other species in the southwestern parts of the VNP. Overall, density estimates for all species were much higher in both 2008 and 2021 than in a previous survey in 2004, which suggests that meso‐ and megaherbivores have largely recovered from a steep decline in numbers towards the end of the 20th century, possibly benefitting from the same protection efforts that benefitted mountain gorillas.\",\"PeriodicalId\":54405,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Wildlife Biology\",\"volume\":\"39 1\",\"pages\":\"0\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":1.7000,\"publicationDate\":\"2023-09-15\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Wildlife Biology\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1002/wlb3.01118\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"生物学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q3\",\"JCRName\":\"ECOLOGY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Wildlife Biology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/wlb3.01118","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Positive population trends among meso‐ and megaherbivores follow intensive conservation efforts in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
It is unclear whether the remarkable recovery of mountain gorillas Gorilla beringei beringei in the Virunga Mountains, East Africa, that followed decades of intensive conservation efforts, is indicative of positive trends in abundance and distribution of other large mammals (meso‐ and megaherbivores). Positive population trends are particularly relevant for globally threatened elephants Loxodonta sp., as conservation and research efforts have predominantly focused on populations that range in lowland savanna ecosystems rather than the smaller but ecologically and genetically unique populations found in the Virunga montane ecosystems. We used marked pellet group counts in dung clearance plots to determine the density/abundance and distribution of three mesoherbivores (buffalo, black‐fronted duiker, bushbuck) and one megaherbivore (elephant) in Volcanoes National Park (VNP; covering part of the Virunga Mountains), Rwanda, in July–September 2008 and 2021. We estimated that elephants and duiker populations saw a minor increase between 2008 and 2021 while densities of buffalo and bushbuck increased substantially over the course of the past decade. We also found no evidence of substantial distributional shifts for elephants but observed increases in densities of the other species in the southwestern parts of the VNP. Overall, density estimates for all species were much higher in both 2008 and 2021 than in a previous survey in 2004, which suggests that meso‐ and megaherbivores have largely recovered from a steep decline in numbers towards the end of the 20th century, possibly benefitting from the same protection efforts that benefitted mountain gorillas.
期刊介绍:
WILDLIFE BIOLOGY is a high-quality scientific forum directing concise and up-to-date information to scientists, administrators, wildlife managers and conservationists. The journal encourages and welcomes original papers, short communications and reviews written in English from throughout the world. The journal accepts theoretical, empirical, and practical articles of high standard from all areas of wildlife science with the primary task of creating the scientific basis for the enhancement of wildlife management practices. Our concept of ''wildlife'' mainly includes mammal and bird species, but studies on other species or phenomena relevant to wildlife management are also of great interest. We adopt a broad concept of wildlife management, including all structures and actions with the purpose of conservation, sustainable use, and/or control of wildlife and its habitats, in order to safeguard sustainable relationships between wildlife and other human interests.