Measuring the abundance of wildlife populations in Central African logging concessions

摘要

As timber concessions in Central Africa open remote areas to hunting activities, methods for monitoring and measuring wildlife populations bear review.In Central Africa, selective logging is the most area-extensive extractive industry, with logging concessions occupying 30-45 percent of forests (Nasi, Cassagne and Billand, 2006). The presence of heavy machinery and logging teams has effects on wildlife(Johns, 1997; White, 1994; White and Tutin, 2001), through direct disturbance and modifications of the structure and composition of the habitat. Logging boostsaccess to remote forests by opening roads in previously inaccessible areas,providing access to markets and increasing population density. Settlements linked to forestry company infrastructures and camps attract large numbers of people, including workers,their families and traders, to areas that have been sparsely populated (Poulsen etal., 2009). Access to remote areas and a rise in population increase hunting activities.