Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: There is increasing concern about the status and distribution of terrestrial carnivore populations throughout the world (Schaller, 1996). Changes in land-use practices, habitat loss and fragmentation, sanctioned human persecution, declines in natural prey, disease, illegal poaching, and increased competition within carnivore guilds have brought about a general decline in several carnivore populations with some species now occupying a fragment of their former range. The continued loss of suitable habitat due to an ever expanding human population has placed the issue of conservation and protection of some carnivores as a top environmental priority and/or controversy for many agencies and organizations. Paramount to carnivore recovery, reintroduction, or development of management plans and policies, is having reliable and accurate information regarding the status, health, and well-being of the carnivore population of concern. One of the most commonly asked questions when dealing with carnivore conservation is: where are the animals, how many are there, and what is the population trend? These questions often place biologists and managers in the difficult position of determining the status of a carnivore population. Biologists need reliable methods that provide accurate data on the distribution, abundance, and population trend of a species in order to make informed decisions and recommendations to policy makers. Many carnivores are secretive, nocturnal, far-ranging, live in densely vegetated habitats or remote areas, or exist at extremely low densities, making censusing and monitoring a carnivore population very difficult, if not sometimes seemingly impossible.
Source: Lincoln (University of Nebraska)
Author: Eric M. Gese
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1525854065