794 S. Verschueren et al.
land-use planning. In the KAZA TCA, food availability and protection status have been found to strongly influence mammal occurrence (Searle et al., 2022), whereas fence lines, high-use roads and areas of anthropogenic activity in general act as movement barriers within the landscape (Brennan et al., 2020). Maintaining long-term connectivity is critical, with several research efforts having identified movement corridors and key areas within this landscape (Elliot et al., 2014; Cushman et al., 2016, 2018; Brennan et al., 2020; Hofmann et al., 2021). However, much of the KAZA TCA remains understudied, in particular its periph- eral areas. Hence, there is a need to better understand the potential contributions of remote and local sections of the KAZA TCA to the larger conservation context. Mammalian carnivores play a vital role in ecosystem functioning by regulating trophic levels from the top down (Ripple et al., 2014), and the loss of carnivore species at the local level can destabilize ecosystems (Prugh et al., 2009). Here we assess the distribution of the carnivore community in an understudied region of the KAZA TCA in Namibia and identify drivers of their occurrence at the local human–wildlife interface. We expect carnivore occur- rence is determined by resource availability and anthropo- genic activities (Woodroffe, 2000; Carbone & Gittleman, 2002). More specifically, prey availability is critical for en- suring the long-term viability of the carnivore community (Wolf & Ripple, 2016), and source–sink dynamics with neighbouring conservation areas may support carnivore persistence in human-impacted landscapes (Mouquet & Loreau, 2003). As many carnivore species are potential sources of conflict, facilitating human–carnivore coexistence
is particularly complex, but is critical for safeguarding biodiversity and securing sustainable livelihoods for local people (Treves & Karanth, 2003; Dickman, 2010).
Study area
TheOndjou communal conservancy lies in theOtjozondjupa region of north-eastern Namibia (Fig. 1). Namibian commu- nal conservancies are community-based institutions that have obtained conditional rights to utilize wildlife occurring in the area (MEFT/NACSO, 2018). Ondjou Conservancy was estab- lished in 2006 and covers an area of 8,729 km2. The human population is estimated to be c. 3,000 people, mostly belong- ing to the Herero ethnic group. The main settlement is the town of Gam in the east of our study area, and most people reside in the eastern part of the Conservancy. The main live- lihood is cattle and small stock farming in free-range condi- tions, but trophy hunting and devil’sclaw Harpagophytum sp. harvesting (the latter for medicinal purposes) provide significant additional revenue sources for these communities (NACSO, 2023). The Conservancy borders Botswana in the east and has represented the south-western extent of the KAZA TCA since 2011. The vegetation in the area is characterized as broad-
leaved tree-and-shrub savannah and is typical for the Northern Kalahari region. The area is dominated by woody plants, including trees and shrubs, and it is inter- spersed with grasses and herbs typically found in ancient riverbeds that are carved through the landscape. The soil is predominantly composed of Arenosols, which are sandy with low organic matter content, making them unsuitable
FIG. 1 The study area in the Ondjou Conservancy within the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TCA), with the 8 × 8 km grid used for the positioning of camera traps and the location of the main settlement, Gam.
Oryx, 2024, 58(6), 793–801 © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605324000024
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140
