Poaching evidence and effects on the distribution of mammals in the last 50 years
Componente | Categoria |
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Pierfilippo Cerretti | Aggiungi Tutor di riferimento (Professore o Ricercatore afferente allo stesso Dipartimento del Proponente) |
The impact of human activities on the environment is resulting in the alteration of major macroecological
patterns that characterize life on Earth, including the loss of top predators and other apex consumers. Mammals, in particular, have experienced serious declines, with 1317 (26%) species now considered to be threatened with extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Poaching and illegal trade on mammals are mostly due to the demand from growing human populations, increasing trade of wild meat, and higher human accessibility to derive food and medicinal products, ornamental items and pets. These affect 53% of threatened mammals, including iconic, keystone and umbrella species like the tiger (Panthera tigris), pangolins (Manis spp.), rhinos and elephants. A literature search will be done to select relevant studies published from 1970 that report spatial data on poaching. Information retrieved will include: 1) the name of the species affected by poaching, 2) the location of the event (coordinates, toponym, map) 3) the type of data (e.g finding of dead individuals, part of poached individuals, assumption based on distance from hunters¿ access points, evidence of hunting on similar species etc) in order to assign different levels of uncertainty, 4) the date in which the event has been recorded and 5) the level of protection of the area. Each species will be then assigned to one or more `use and trade¿ classes (i.e. food, pet, medicine, decorative items, trophies),
retrieved from the IUCN Species Information Service, to extrapolate additional poaching locations for species with insufficient data that co-occur with data-rich species. In this way, each species for which the poaching threat is applicable will have a map of recent poaching evidence. By including the information related to the date in which poaching has started/been detected in an area, a map of change in poaching occurrence within the combined range will be created for each species.