Comparing data of different survey methods for sustainable wildlife management in hunting areas: the case of Tarangire Manyara ecosystem, northern Tanzania

摘要

Cost-benefit considerations of wildlife monitoringare essential, particularly, in areas outside national parkboundaries, where resources for conducting wildlife censusesare scarce, but that, at the same time, are subject to highpressure for wildlife utilization, such as hunting. Largemammal survey data from various sources were collated andanalyzed to investigate which methods are best suited formonitoring purposes at low cost in the Tarangire-Manyaraecosystem, northern Tanzania. Our results indicate thatprimary data (from aerial and road transects counts) thatinvolve direct species observations, although sometimes veryexpensive, are required for establishing the status of the targetspecies in terms of density or population size. Concomitantly,secondary data from various sources, such as interviews,hunting quota, and damage reports, obtained over wide areasand over longer periods of time, can provide importantinformation on presence/absence and distribution of specieswithin an area. In addition, the study revealed that huntingquotas set did not correlate with species abundanceumbersfrom the primary data surveys for most of the large mammalshunted within the ecosystem. For a better conservation andmanagement of wildlife, in particular with respect to theforthcoming formation of Wildlife Management Areas, wepropose an integrated approach to wildlife monitoring usingprimary and secondary data sources through the involvementof local people's knowledge.