Hunting as land use: Understanding the spatial associations among hunting, agriculture, and forestry

Ecology and Society: a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability

article

Wiebke Neumann¹  Christian Levers³  Fredrik Widemo¹  Navinder J. Singh¹  Joris P.G.M. Cromsigt¹  Tobias Kuemmerle² 

[1] Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Science;Department of Geography, Humboldt-University Berlin;Department of Environmental Geography, Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam;Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia;School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia;Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 8a;Centre for African Conservation Ecology, Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela University;Integrative Research Institute for Transformation in Human-Environment Systems ,(IRI THESys), Humboldt-University Berlin

关键词: functional game groups;    human-nature interactions;    human-wildlife co-existence;    land-use archetypes;    Northern Europe;    social-ecological systems;    spatial clustering;    ungulate overabundance;    wildlife management;   

DOI  :  10.5751/ES-12882-270102

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Resilience Alliance Publications

【 摘 要 】

Hunting is a widespread but often overlooked land-use activity, providing major benefits to society. Hunting takes place in most landscapes, yet it remains unclear which types of landscapes foster or dampen hunting-related services, and how hunting relates to other land uses. A better understanding of these relationships is key for sustainable land-use planning that integrates wildlife management. This is particularly urgent for Europe, where wildlife populations are increasing. Focusing on Sweden, we explored the spatial associations among hunting, agriculture, and forestry to identify archetypical combinations of these land uses. Specifically, we combined indicators on the extent and intensity of agriculture and forestry, with data on hunting bags for 63 game species using self-organizing maps, a non-parametric clustering approach. We identified 15 typical bundles of co-occurring land uses at the municipality level across Sweden. The harvest of forest grouse, bears, and moose co-occurred with forestry in northern Sweden, whereas the harvest of small game, different deer species, and wild boar co-occurred with agriculture across southern Sweden, reflecting species’ biology, environmental factors, and management. Our findings also highlight the strength of associations among hunting and other land uses. Importantly, we identified large areas in central Sweden where harvest of game was below average, possibly indicating that intensity of hunting is out of balance with that of agriculture or forestry, potentially fostering conflict between wildlife and land use. Collectively, our results suggest that (1) hunting should be considered a major land use that, in Sweden, is more widespread than agriculture and forestry; (2) land-use planning must therefore integrate wildlife management; and (3) such an integration should occur in a regionalized manner that considers social-ecological context. Our approach identifies a first spatial template within which such context-specific land-use planning, aiming at aligning wildlife and diverse land uses, can take place.

【 授权许可】

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