Ferreira, Guilherme B;
Thomas, Liam;
Ingram, Daniel;
Bevan, Peggy A;
Madsen, Emily K;
Thanet, Dol Raj;
Rayamajhi, Santosh;
(2023)
Wildlife response to management regime and habitat loss in the Terai Arc Landscape of Nepal.
Biological Conservation
, 288
, Article 110334. 10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110334.
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Abstract
The establishment of protected areas and buffer zones has been widely adopted in many countries to mitigate biodiversity loss. However, in contrast to the growing evidence about the beneficial impacts of protected areas, ecological outcomes of buffer zones have rarely been measured. Here, we use data from a large camera trap survey and multi-species occupancy modelling to assess the effectiveness of different management regimes (Bardia National Park, its buffer zone, and areas outside the buffer zone) at safeguarding wildlife in the Terai Arc Landscape of Nepal. Using areas outside the buffer zone as the counterfactual to compare occurrence probability of 25 mammal species >1 kg, we revealed a positive effect of the national park and the buffer zone on seven and six species, respectively. Three species had greater occurrence probability outside the buffer zone than in the national park, but no species had greater occurrence probability outside the buffer zone than inside the buffer zone. Analysis of species richness indicated that management regime differentially affects species groups. For non-threatened and herbivorous species, the buffer zone performed better than areas outside the buffer zone and similar to, or better than, the national park. However, for threatened species and large animalivores (carnivores and insectivores) the national park outperformed the other management regimes. Our results also suggest that the buffer zone partially mitigated the impacts of habitat loss outside the national park, indicating that management regime may play a role in modulating the effect of agriculture on wildlife in human-dominated landscapes in Nepal.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Wildlife response to management regime and habitat loss in the Terai Arc Landscape of Nepal |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110334 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2023.110334 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Anthropogenic pressure, Area-based conservation, Buffer zone, Camera trap, Mammals, Occupancy modelling, Protected area effectiveness |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10178373 |
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