4.3 Review

Implications of taxonomic bias for human-carnivore conflict mitigation

Journal

ORYX
Volume 56, Issue 6, Pages 917-926

Publisher

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0030605321000582

Keywords

Charisma; Crocuta crocuta; human-carnivore conflict; livestock depredation; research-implementation gap; sub-Saharan Africa; taxonomic bias

Funding

  1. University Fellowship Program at Michigan State University

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Mitigating declining carnivore populations is a pressing global challenge, but there is a gap between research, conservation practice, and policy formation. The presence of research bias towards charismatic species can hinder effective conservation efforts for less popular species.
Carnivore population declines are a time-sensitive global challenge in which mitigating decreasing populations requires alignment of applied practice and research priorities. However, large carnivore conservation is hindered by gaps among research, conservation practice and policy formation. One potential driver of this research-implementation gap is research bias towards charismatic species. Using depredation of livestock by large carnivores in sub-Saharan Africa as a case study, we examined whether taxonomic bias could be detected and explored the potential effects of such a bias on the research-implementation gap. Via a literature review, we compared the central large carnivore species in research to the species identified as the primary livestock depredator. We detected a substantial misalignment between these factors for two species. Spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta were the most common depredator of livestock (58.5% of studies), but were described as a central species among only 20.7% of the studies. In comparison, African lions Panthera leo were the most common central species (45% of studies) but were the primary depredator in just 24.4% of studies. Such patterns suggest that taxonomic bias is prevalent within this research. Although spotted hyaenas may depredate livestock most often, their low charisma in comparison to sympatric species such as the African lion and leopard Panthera pardus may be limiting research-informed conservation efforts for them. Efforts to mitigate human-carnivore conflict designed for one species may not be applicable to another co-occurring species, and thus, taxonomic bias could undermine the efficacy of interventions built to reduce livestock depredation by carnivores.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.3
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available