Multi-Scale Spatial Prediction of Wild Boar Damage Risk in Hunchun: A Key Tiger Range in China

Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Based on Damage, Distribution, and Activity: A Case Study of Wild Boar in Zhejiang, Eastern China

Human-wildlife conflicts are becoming increasingly common worldwide and are a challenge to biodiversity management. Compared with compensatory management, which often focuses on solving emergency conflicts, mitigation management allows decision-makers to better understand where the damage is distributed, how the species are distributed and when the species conduct their activity. Here, we integrated data collected from 90 districts/counties' damage surveys and 1271 camera traps to understand the damage status, abundance, density and activity rhythms of wild boar (Sus scrofa) in Zhejiang, Eastern China, from January 2019 to August 2023. We found that (1) wild boar-human conflicts were mainly distributed in the northwest and southwest mountainous regions of Zhejiang Province; (2) the total abundance of wild boar was 115,156 ± 24,072 individuals, indicating a growing trend over the past decade and a higher density in the western and southern regions; (3) wild boar exhibited different activity patterns across different damage regions, and the periods around 7:00, 11:00 and 16:00 represented activity peaks for wild boar in seriously damaged regions. The damage distribution, density, distribution and activity rhythms provide specific priority regions and activity intensity peaks for conflict mitigation. We believe that these findings based on the damage, distribution and activity could provide a scientific basis for mitigation management at the county level and enrich the framework of human-wildlife conflict mitigation.

Identifying the Risk Regions of Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) Incidents in China

The objectives of this study were to identify the risk regions of wild boar incidents in China and to draw a risk map. Risk maps can be used to plan the prioritization of preventive measures, increasing management effectiveness from both a short- and a long-term perspective. We used a web crawler (web information access technology) to obtain reports of wild boar incidents from China's largest search engine (Baidu) and obtained 196 valid geographic locations of wild boar incidents from the reports. Subsequently, a system of environmental variables-with climate, topography, landscape, and human disturbance as the main variable types-was constructed, based on human-land-system thinking. Finally, the Maxent model was applied to predict the risk space of wild boar incidents in China by integrating the geographic location information for wild boar incidents with the environmental variables. We observed that the types of environmental variables that contributed to wild boar incidents were in the descending order of climate (40.5%) > human disturbance (25.2%) > landscape (24.4%) > topography (9.8%). Among the 14 environmental variables, annual precipitation, the GDP index, and the mean annual temperature were the main environmental variables. The distance from woodland, distance from cultivated land, and elevation were the secondary environmental variables. The response curves of the environmental variables demonstrated that the highest probability of wild boar incidents occurred when the annual average temperature was 16 °C, the annual precipitation was 800 mm, and the altitudes were 150 m and 1800 m. The probability of wild boar incidents decreased with an increase in the distance from cultivated and forested land, and increased sharply and then levelled off with an increase in the GDP index. Approximately 12.18% of China was identified as being at a high risk of wild boar incidents, mainly on the eastern side of the Huhuanyong Line.

Community attitudes towards Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) and their prey species in Yanbian, Jilin province, a region of northeast China where tigers are returning

Community attitudes towards large carnivores are of central importance to their conservation in human-dominated landscapes. In this study, we evaluate community attitudes and perceptions towards the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) and bears (Ursus thibetanus and Ursus arctos), as well as their prey species, namely sika deer (Cervus nippon), roe deer and wild boar (Sus scrofa), in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin province, northeast China. We surveyed 139 households and found that community members' perceptions of large carnivores and their prey species were influenced by their predominant economic activities; their prior interactions with wildlife; their household income level; and whether they were either long-term residents of Yanbian or had migrated to the region from elsewhere in China. We recorded fairly neutral attitudes towards large carnivores among the communities we surveyed, but strongly negative attitudes were shown towards wild boar, particularly where respondents had lost agricultural products to crop raiding by wild boar. We recommend conservation stakeholders in northeast China utilise this finding to encourage support for large carnivore recovery and conservation by targeting messaging around the importance of the tiger as a key predator of wild boar in the ecosystem. Furthermore, our findings suggest that government provided compensation paid for cattle lost to large carnivore predation (notably, by tigers) may be helping to reduce animosity from cattle owners towards large carnivores. However, we also highlight that compensation for loss of livestock is therefore performing a useful role in mitigating human-wildlife conflict, that there are potentially unintended consequences of the current compensation program, for example it fails to dissuade livestock grazing in protected areas.

Challenges and Opportunities in Aligning Conservation with Development in China's National Parks: A Narrative Literature Review

As part of its effort to balance economic development with environmental objectives, China has established a new national park system, with the first five locations formally established in 2021. However, as the new parks all host or are proximate to human populations, aligning the socioeconomic needs and aspirations of local communities with conservation aims is critical for the long-term success of the parks. In this narrative review, the authors identify the ecological priorities and socioeconomic stakeholders of each of the five national parks; explore the tensions and synergies between these priorities and stakeholders; and synthesize the policy recommendations most frequently cited in the literature. A total of 119 studies were reviewed. Aligning traditional livelihoods with conservation, limiting road construction, promoting education and environmental awareness, and supporting the development of a sustainable tourism industry are identified as important steps to balance conservation with economic development in the new national parks.