Using acoustic monitoring to improve tropical forest protected area management Joshua M. Linder Christos Astaras Peter H. Wrege David W. Macdonald IPS/ASP 2016
Using acoustic monitoring to improve tropical forest
protected area management
Joshua M. Linder
Christos Astaras
Peter H. Wrege
David W. Macdonald
IPS/ASP 2016
NkwendeHills
Nigeria
Fun Facts About Korup National Park
• Designated a park in 1986
• 1260 km2
• 15 primate species
• 8 diurnal
• Bushmeat hunting extensive
• Anti-poaching patrols since 1990s
EN
R.
Ber
gl
Drill Preuss’sred colobus
CR
Nigeria-Cameroon
Chimpanzee
EN
Mana bridge
(park entrance)
What We Did
• 12 ARUs (SM2+ Wildlife Acoustics Inc.)
• June 2013 – May 2015
• 189,000 hrs of sound data
• Scanned with gunshot detection algorithm
verified by humans
• Gunshot detection range = 1.2 km
• Regular patrolling throughout study period
Intensify patrols in “core” ARU area after gathering
baseline gun hunting data
Total detection
area = 54 km2
(assuming 1.2 km detection radius)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
What We Found
Year 2: 2,357 gunshots
0.55 shots/day/sensor
Year 1: 2,041 gunshots
0.47 shots/day/sensor
June 2013 – May 2014
June 2014 – May 2015
Ebola reaches
Nigeria Wet Dry Wet
Gunshots
/sensor/
month
Hunting sign encounter rate vs.
Acoustic monitoring of gunshots
Survey effort = 382.18 km
Hunting signs encountered = 155
Acoustic data
Mean gunshot/sensor/day
P
Q
R
S
Year 2: 2,357 gunshots
0.55 shots/day/sensor
Year 1: 2,041 gunshots
0.47 shots/day/sensor
Average annual gunshots in 54 km2 = 2,199
Extrapolate to all of Korup NP (1,260 km2)
51,310 gunshots annually
Why You Should Care
Korup N.P.
Mundemba town
Hunter and household surveys
Gun hunter success rate = ~74%
Primates = ~14% of gun hunting offtake
17,401 gunshots recorded by hunters during 1 year of hunter surveys
Average annual gunshots = 2,199
Why You Should Care
Gun hunter success rate = 74%Primates = ~14% of gun hunting offtake
1,625 animals killed by gun hunters annually223 primates shot
Estimated Annual Offtake inStudy Area (54 km2)
Estimated Annual Offtake in all ofKorup NP (1,260 km2)
Average annual gunshots = 51,310
Gun hunter success rate = 74%Primates = ~14% of gun hunting offtake
37,918 animals killed by gun hunters annually 5,195 primates shot
Heat map of patrol effortAug. 2014 – June 2015 (7 months in total)
Black circles – detection area of ARUs
Thin red lines – permanent trails/transects
Yellow stars – Tourist camps
Total effort:63 patrol days (mean 5.7 ± 4.7/month)
446.2 km walked(mean 40.6 ± 32.5/month)
On trails: 72%
Off trails: 28%
Night patrols: 1 nightMana bridge
Acoustic monitoring results vs.
actual anti-poaching patrols
• Intensified patrols• Day and night patrols• On and off-trail patrols• Constant presence of patrols
Using acoustic monitoring to design and
evaluate anti-poaching patrols
Improving Anti-Poaching Patrols
In Protected Areas
Funding Provided By:Darwin InitiativeUS Fish and Wildlife ServiceSAVE Wildlife Conservation FundUniversity of Oxford – WildCRUJames Madison UniversityPSMNR
Partners:Korup Rainforest Conservation SocietyCameroon Ministry of Forest and WildlifeKorup National ParkWWF-CameroonPSMNR