WILDLIFE MONITORING
Greg Stuart-Hill
World Wildlife Fund
This focuses on wildlife (fauna) monitoring. Other natural resource monitoring systems (e.g. veld, fish, forestry) are also important
Monitoring is needed for adaptive management
Yes
Modify objectives or management
No
Are objectives being
achieved?
The context:
Monitor to see if
objectives being
achieved
Set objectives(land-use planning)
Manage according to objectives
Population Estimate
Population Trend
Animal Distribution
Sex/Age
MANAG
EMENT &
USE
Intr
oducti
ons
Remov
als
Trophy Q
uality
Touris
m S
atisf
actio
n
Wat
erAnti-
poach
ing w
ork
What should be monitored?
Body Condition
Population Ecol
Problem
Anim
als
Poach
ing
Mor
talit
yRai
nfall
Disturb
ance
-
------
-- W
ILDLIF
E ----
------
-- (A
ll sp
ecies
)
IMPACTS
(Impor
tant s
pecies
)
Need: To know how many animals there are, each year.
Why? • To estimate off-take quotas, and• To determine drought risk & livestock competition
How? • Use road counts/aerial census/cybertracker counts • Use correction-factors (eg transect width, distance, etc)• For rare species (eg rhino) use known group/individuals
1.1 Population Estimates
Output: ……..a Table for each year!
Numbers are very difficult to obtain – most census methods underestimate wildlife populations!
SPECIES COUNT NUMBER POPULATION ESTIMATE
Kudu 254 300
Eland 116 150
Giraffe 23 50
Elephant 22 70
etc etc etc
Species Number Distance east south
Grid Cell/ GPS
Notes (sex age structure, etc)
Datasheet:
1.2 Population Trend
Output: …provide a graph for each species!
Counts do not have to be ‘accurate’ – a change in an index over time is fine!
Be careful of using the last point on the graph – this could be an error - so check the sex-age information
Years
Kudu
Here’s a problem!Zebra
Years
Great!
FIXED FOOT PATROLS
OBSERVERS DATE
ROUTE: START POSITION START TIMEDISTANCE END POSITION END TIME
Time Species Numbereast south
Grid Cell/ GPS
Notes (sex age structure, etc)
Need: to know what is happening to the wildlife populations. Why? Is wildlife management sustainableHow? Fixed Foot Patrols, fixed road counts, Cybertracker
Counts and Aerial census. Can use an index! ….... But sampling effort must be controlled ! …..
Datasheet:
Output:
1.3 Game Distribution
Need a Map showing where each species is concentrated
Why? To identify wildlife concentration areas for land-use planning purposes (also to see monitor distribution changes over the years)
How? Use Cyber tracker or Grid blocks for all sightings (NB also record where animals were not seen)
Data collection:
Lets build a lodge here because this is where most of
the game is
Why not put a borehole here to utilize this area
Year 1 Year 10
Land
use
pla
nnin
g
Mon
itori
ng
Output:
1.4 Sex-Age Ratio Monitoring
Male : Female RatioIt is necessary to know the ratio of Adult male to female
because:• Live game capture/sale normally results in higher
proportions of females - with potentially devastating impacts to the population
• To properly evaluate breeding success, you need to view number of young in relation to the number of females
• For input into population modeling which is used to predict population growth and future harvest potential and stocking rates
Need to determine ratios between adults, sub-adults an juveniles
Why? Use this information as an early warning of the current ‘health’ of the wildlife population
SEX-AGE SURVEY
SpeciesTotal
NumberAd-Male
Ad-Female
Sub-Adults
Juvenile
Datasheet:
Young: Adult Ratio• If the ratio of young to
adults diminishes then this is an early warning that the population is in trouble
• If the ratio between sub-adults and juveniles changes this gives an indication of post breeding survival ability – i.e. useful to evaluate impact of predation
2.1 Mortalities
Output 1: a Trend graph of mortalities over years
Output 2: Map showing where mortalities are
Map: Showing mortalities
If sudden Increase
Also need to know the cause of mortalities
(i.e. is it due to poaching, disease, drought?)
But only if they these are abnormally high
Need: To keep track of mortalities
Why? To alert management if mortalities suddenly rise & plan action based on the cause (e.g. poaching, disease, drought)
Years
Mortality
What is going on here? What is causing these abnormally high
mortalities?
Datasheet:
2.2 Poaching
Need: To track poaching as a threat to wildlife
Why? To understand the threat to wildlife and gauge community support for the Conservancy
Years
Poaching
Poaching is getting bad!
Datasheet:
Output:
If Increasing
1 elephant, 1 rhino
1 leopard
-
-
Commercial
1 kudu
8 kudu,
1 giraffe
1 kudu,
1 duiker
Meat
Non-citizens
2Other Citizens
10Neighbors
2Residents
CasesCATEGORY
A Table breaking down
incidents for each year
• Graph - is poaching being controlled?
• Map - where poaching is taking place?
• Table - who is poaching & what is being taken?
Map: Showing where
poaching is occurring
2.3 Problem Animals (PAC)
Need: To track problem animal incidents, identify those species causing problems, evaluate damage caused & record efforts that go into reducing conflict with problem animals
Why? To understand the impact of wildlife on people & find ways to reduce conflict and compensate individuals.
How? Keep record of all PAC incidents. Track attempts to reduce conflict (e.g. fencing, water protection, kraaling).
Datasheet: PAC LOG
Date Village Species NumberType of
lossha number
Prevention (kraal/fence)
Yes
/No
Num
Kill
ed
Complainant
Complainant's signature
Extent of lossProblem animal Reaction
Output:
2.4 Rainfall
Need: To track rainfall as a threat & opportunity for wildlife
Why? To separate the effects of rainfall from the impacts of human activity on wildlife and help explain population trend
Datasheet:
Output:
Map: Showing where
rainfall occurred
• A Graph – is rainfall above or below average?
Years
Its been a good season!
• A Map - where did rain fall or not fall?
2.5 Disturbance (e.g. livestock, cropping, tourists)
Need: To track other land-use activities such as cropping, livestock farming, tourist activity
Why? To understand the threat of these disturbances and gauge if these have impacted on wildlife
Disturbance is affecting the elephants
Data Collection: • Map areas of cropping and livestock farming• Map areas of tourism activity and keep track of tourism numbers on
various roads• Record ‘flight’ distance (at what distance does game raun away from a
vehicle) of game on an annual basis• Record how far wildlife will come within a homestead• Keep a note if animals only drink at night
Output:
• Graph - Relate an index of disturbance (e.g. ‘flight distance’ to indices of human impacts (e.g. settlement, tourism, etc).
• Map - Also compare wildlife distribution maps with maps of human activity.
3.1 Game Introductions & Removals
Need: To keep a record of how many animals are Introduced or Removed
Why? To know if continued Introductions/Removals are wise, & explain any changes in the population trend-graphs
How? Keep a record of all animals that are Introduced and all animals that are Removed from the area.
Output: ………..a Table for each year!
SPECIES Removed Introduced**
Kudu 30 -
Eland 15 -
Giraffe 3 -
Zebra - 100
Gemsbok - 50
** Need to also check on success of each introduction
Also refer to the following pages in this manual for:1. Game Removals2. Game introductions
These pages will explain in greater detail the ‘Removal’ and ‘Introduction’ monitoring systems
3.1.1 Game Removals (“Harvesting”)
How?
Each time animals are removed (sold or hunted) keep a record of:
• how many animals are removed against quota• sex of removed animals• for animals hunted, record trophies
Output: …..a Table for each year!
SPECIES Quota Removed Male:Female
Kudu 40 30 20:10
Eland 15 15 10:5
Giraffe 3 3 3:0
Zebra 2 - -
Gemsbok 5 - -
(see ‘Trophy Quality’ in the manual)
3.1.2 Game Introductions
Output: …Distribution map and a Table
SPECIES Number Introduced
Survival BreedingAdult:Young
Zebra 100 60% 100:40
Gemsbok 100 95% 100:3
If Breeding Rates are less than a critical level (level varies per species) then this indicates that a species will not thrive even though it survived survived the introduction event
How?1. Keep a record of how many animals are introduced2. Also check on the success (i.e. survival & breeding) of each introduction by :
• Conducting sex-age survey to determine ratios between adult females and young (see ‘sex-age monitoring’ in this manual)
• Monitor marked (collared) animals to determine survival rates and ensure they are still in the area.
OK!
If Survival Rates are less than 90% for a species then a mortality report should be attached to the table
OK!
3.2 Trophy Quality
Need: to track change in Trophy Quality (e.g. tusk/horn size)
Why? Trophy hunting will not affect wildlife population growth (excluding predators), but too much hunting results in poor trophy size - this leads to a lower concession value.
How? From trophy hunter records
Output:
Datasheet:
Permit# Species Sex Trophy (L) Trophy (R) Client PH
Tusk Size
Years
Lower the elephant quota! - we have taken too many.
Hunters can only find small tuskers
…provide a trophy size trend graph for each species, over years!
3.3 Tourist Satisfaction
Output:
Need to track game viewing success (i.e. number of sightings, number of species, etc).
Why? • know game viewing potential for planing & marketing,• to evaluate whether each animal population is at
adequate numbers to satisfy tourists.• to assess whether a problem species could be reduced
without harming game viewing
Species Sighting index Comments of sighting satisfaction per species
Datasheet:
Elephant
Years
If we reduce elephant numbers it will save us a lot
of damage and have no effect on game viewing
Years
Lion
We should re-introduce lions - they are key to tourism and are not being seen anymore
… provide a ‘game viewing success’ graph for each species, over years!
3.4 Water Points
Need: to closely monitor and repair any water installation, particularly in the dry season. Why? Water is critical to wildlife, people and livestock. There is considerable conflict around this resource and so it is essential to ensure that water installations function. How? Each water point should be visited on a regular basis and if necessary repairs made immediately.
Datasheets:
Bore # Locality DateProtection against
Presently working?
Comments, including repairs if any
Damage by?Elephant Theft
4.1 Important Species: Population Performance
Need: To to track population performance of species such as predators, elephant, rhino, disease free buffalo, etc
Why? To know how many there are and how their populations are performing.
How? Normal count methods do not work for rare or nocturnal species. Use specially designed systems (e.g. radio tracking, known group). This usually involves specialist research teams from MET, SRT, etc.
Output:
Mon
ths
betw
een
calv
es
Years
Rhino inter-calving period is suddenly increasing. There
seems to be a problem ?
4.2 Important Species: Body-Condition
Need: To track body condition of critical species such as Rhino, disease free Buffalo, Roan, etc
Why? To serve as an early warning of a nutritional (drought) problem.
How? Estimate body fat on a sample of animals each month and graph.
Lets provide extra feed for the buffalo!
I foresee problems this winter
Output:
Body Fat
Years