卧龙自然保护区野生动物肇事农地特征及影响机制

野生动物肇事是保护区内部和周边地区的普遍现象,严重影响了保护区生物多样性保护的有效性,是当前保护区管理面临的新问题。以四川卧龙国家级自然保护区为例,于2014年7—8月以问卷调查方式获取了170个农地的野生动物肇事信息,建立了野生动物肇事与不同农地特征之间的二元logistic回归模型,并通过赤池信息量准则筛选出3个拟合优良的回归模型。研究结果表明,野生动物肇事与农地特征之间存在密切关系,其中农地种植作物类型、农地与森林、公路的距离、围栏的使用等农地特征意义显著(P值均小于0.01)。进而探讨了上述农地特征对野生动物肇事的影响机制及原因,并据此结果提出了野生动物肇事地的评价和管理、调整作物种植结构、统一规划和管理防护措施、减轻当地居民对农业的依赖等缓解人与野生动物冲突的对策。

Typical characteristics of farmlands in Wolong National Natural Reserve in Sichuan Province damaged by wildlife and the measures for mitigation

Currently, damage to farmlands due to wildlife and human-wildlife conflicts has become a challenge for the management of reserves. Damage ascribed to wildlife is a universal phenomenon in and around natural reserves, leading to human-wildlife conflicts and seriously impairing the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation. Essentially, wildlife damage and human-wildlife conflicts occur when there is a shared landscape or habitat between humans and wildlife, leading to an increase in competition for space and resources. Therefore, it is necessary to research and discriminate typical characteristics of shared landscape for damage mitigation. Here we used the Wolong Natural Reserve as a case study site, interviewed 186 local residents living in the reserve, collected information concerning 170 farms, and then analyzed and identified the key characteristics of damaged farmlands with the Binary logistic regression model. Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was used to choose the three optimal models. The results revealed a significant correlation between wildlife damage farmland characteristics such as crop type planted, distance from farmland, distance from a rural road, and use of fences (with P values < 0.01). Furthermore, we subsequently discuss the reasoning behind the existence of these correlations and the mechanisms affecting them. Specifically, farmlands growing corn and cabbage were more likely to be damaged because both these crops are palatable to wild animals. Farmlands located closely to forests had a higher probability of being damaged by wild animals. More than 60% farmland was converted into forested area by the Grain for Green Program, creating areas that could act as a corridor or stepping stone for wild animals to more readily access farmlands. The distance of the farmland from a rural road played an important role in decreasing wildlife damage, since the road in the reserve hindered access to wild animals as well as their activities. Interestingly, statistically, the farmlands protected by fences had a higher probability of being damaged by wild animals. We believe that the local fence was not effective due to its poor durability and vulnerability to certain animals, such as wild boar and porcupine. After completing our analyses, we proposed the following wildlife damage mitigation measures:(1) farmlands should be managed according to their ranked risks to wildlife damage, (2) local residents should adjust or change their crop structure, and (3) local reserve managers should plan and regulate damaged farmland in a unified manner in order to increase the effectiveness of mitigation measures. In the long term, it is necessary to alleviate local dependence on agriculture and transform community focuses to alternative economic activities not related to farming such as tourism.