WILDLIFE MONITORING

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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
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Monitoring is needed for adaptive management
The context
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What should be monitored?
Introductions Removals Trophy Quality Tourism
Satisfaction Water Anti-poaching work
MANAGEMENT USE
Population Estimate Population Trend Animal
Distribution Sex/Age
--------- WILDLIFE
------------ (All species)
Body Condition Population Ecol
IMPACTS
Problem Animals Poaching Mortality Rainfall Distur
bance
(Important species)
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1.1 Population Estimates

• 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

Datasheet

• Output ..a Table for each year!

SPECIES COUNT NUMBER POPULATION ESTIMATE
Kudu 254 300
Eland 116 150
Giraffe 23 50
Elephant 22 70
etc etc etc
Numbers are very difficult to obtain most
census methods underestimate wildlife populations!
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1.2 Population Trend
Need to know what is happening to the wildlife
populations. Why? Is wildlife management
sustainable How? Fixed Foot Patrols, fixed road
counts, Cybertracker Counts and Aerial census.
Can use an index! .... But sampling effort must
be controlled ! ..
Datasheet

• 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
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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
Output
Land use planning
Monitoring
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1.4 Sex-Age Ratio Monitoring
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
Datasheet
Output

• 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

• Male Female Ratio
• It 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

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2.1 Mortalities
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)
Datasheet
Output 1 a Trend graph of mortalities over years
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
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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
Datasheet
Output

• Graph - is poaching being controlled?
• Map - where poaching is taking place?
• Table - who is poaching what is being taken?

If Increasing
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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

• Output

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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

• A Graph is rainfall above or below average?

• A Map - where did rain fall or not fall?

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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

• 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.

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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
• Game Removals
• Game introductions
• These pages will explain in greater detail the
  Removal and Introduction monitoring systems

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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 MaleFemale
Kudu 40 30 2010
Eland 15 15 105
Giraffe 3 3 30
Zebra 2 - -
Gemsbok 5 - -
(see Trophy Quality in the manual)
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3.1.2 Game Introductions

• How?
• 1. Keep a record of how many animals are
  introduced
• 2. 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.

• Output Distribution map and a Table

SPECIES Number Introduced Survival Breeding AdultYoung
Zebra 100 60 10040
Gemsbok 100 95 1003
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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
Datasheet
Output
provide a trophy size trend graph for each
species, over years!
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3.3 Tourist Satisfaction

• 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

Datasheet
Output
provide a game viewing success graph for each
species, over years!
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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.
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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
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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.
Output