Description
Urbanization often triggers habitat loss and fragmentation, driving species toward extinction. Large carnivores, particularly those with extensive home ranges and slow reproductive rates, suffer significantly from anthropogenic pressure. A quarter of global carnivores face extinction or have disappeared since the 1970s, with carnivores like the cheetah now only residing in 9% of their distributional range. With only 7,100 individuals left globally, mainly in southern Africa, cheetahs play a crucial role in carnivore conservation. Assessing cheetah numbers, growth, and declines becomes pivotal for their survival. Most free-roaming cheetah are distributed outside of PAs in southern Africa, despite increasing anthropogenic land use, resulting in competition for space between cheetah and farmers. We predict that the growth in human activity has caused an increase in HCC likelihood with higher cheetah distribution and presence predicted on farmlands with domestic livestock or game compared to exclusively agricultural lands. A Habitat Suitability Species Distribution Model (HSSDM) will be used to map current free-roaming cheetah distribution as well as determine any habitat losses and gains over the years and how much of the habitat gain is man-made (i.e. PAs). Additionally, the HSSDM can inform us of possible areas where HCC can arise.Periode | 14-feb.-2024 |
---|---|
Evenementstitel | Netherlands Annual Ecology Meeting 2024 |
Evenementstype | Conference |
Conferentienummer | 16 |
Organisator | Netherlands Ecological Research Network (NERN) |
Locatie | Lunteren, NetherlandsToon op kaart |
Mate van erkenning | National |