Integrating spatial analysis and questionnaire survey to better understand human-onager conflict in Southern Iran

Abstract

Southern Iran is a conservation priority area for the endangered Persian onager (Equus hemionus onager), which is threatened by habitat fragmentation and conflict with local communities. To better understand factors that influence onager conservation, we administered a questionnaire in local communities to survey their ecological knowledge, personal experience related to onager, and attitudes toward traditional solutions for reducing crop damage by onager. In addition, we used resistant kernel and factorial least-cost path analyses to identify core areas and corridors for onager movement, and spatial randomization of vehicle collisions and crossing locations to test the predictive ability of resistant kernel and factorial least-cost path predictions of movement. We found that local communities that were knowledgeable about onagers experienced less crop damage from onager compared with those who used traditional methods. Habitat connectivity models revealed that core areas of movement are highly concentrated at the center of protected areas. Some sections of core areas have been cut off by roads where most vehicle collisions with onagers occurred. We propose that effective onager conservation will require integrated landscape-level management to reduce mortality risk, protection of core areas and corridors, development of mitigation strategies to reduce vehicle collisions, and conflict mediation between local communities and onagers.

Identifying connectivity for two sympatric carnivores in human-dominated landscapes in central Iran

“…The vulnerability of these locations is related to the high potential for grey wolf and golden jackal vehicle collisions. Our findings are similar to Moqanaki and Cushman (2017) [ 29 ] and Mohammadi et al (2021) [ 90 ] who showed that core areas for Asiatic cheetah and Persian onager and the corridors that link them are bisected by multiple primary and secondary roads.…”

Rethinking connectivity modeling for high-mobility ungulates: insights from a globally endangered equid

“…Additionally, the expansion of onagers' home ranges and their movement from QNP to BPA in the wet season brings them into close proximity with livestock, which may affect onager activity and resource selection (Esmaeili 2020). Over the past decade, a combination of increased enforcement and resource supplementation (water and food additions) have led to a 2.61% increase in the onager population within QNP, leading to increased human-onager conflict in and around BPA (Esmaeili et al 2019;Mohammadi et al 2021). Such conflicts are exacerbated by water shortages and high grazing pressure in BPA, highlighting the need for translocations from QNP as part of broader efforts to reintroduce onagers to large swaths of their historical range.…”

Application of maximum entropy (MaxEnt) to understand the spatial dimension of human–wildlife conflict (HWC) risk in areas adjacent to Gonarezhou National Park of Zimbabwe

“…These human-induced disturbances and mortalities have resulted in widespread species extinctions that are well documented but rarely feature under the HWC discourse (Göttert and Starik 2022). https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol28/iss3/art18/ A review of literature shows that studies that model spatially explicit distribution of HWC occurrences are currently few, but on an increasing trajectory (Mohammadi et al 2021, Egri et al 2022, Khosravi et al 2023. This could probably be due to lack of HWC data, which are often sensitive and illegal in nature, thus difficult to access freely (Mateo-Tomás et al 2012, Egri et al 2022.…”