Populations of large carnivores are declining at a rapid rate, primarily resulting from land use change due to increasing human pressure. Such changes can restrict available habitat for many species, particularly wide-ranging large carnivores. In Botswana, aside from protected areas, large tracts of land are set aside as wildlife management areas (WMAs). Wildlife management areas are important regions of habitat for many species and can serve as buffer zones between protected areas and agro-pastoral land, while allowing communities to utilise resources. It was hypothesised that land use type surrounding WMAs, human settlements and prey availability might affect carnivore distribution patterns. We conducted a camera-trap study with 96 stations in two WMAs in the Ghanzi district and used a Royles-Nichol multi-species occupancy model to test which factors influenced habitat use for nine carnivore species. Detection probability was low across all species, whereas occupancy varied substantially. Lion occurrence was highest close to protected areas, whereas leopards and brown hyaena occurred closer to commercial farms. Black-backed jackal and caracal had high occurrence probabilities near both protected and commercial farming areas. Settlement locations and wild prey availability did not strongly influence occurrence of any species, although black-backed jackals had higher occurrence in areas with high livestock frequency. As pressure for land continues to increase, available habitat for wildlife is reduced and wide-ranging species like carnivores are vulnerable to edge effects. The WMAs provide vital habitat for carnivores and can be used to improve livelihoods for communities, whilst maintaining biodiversity in the Kalahari.

中文翻译：

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卡拉哈里野生动物管理区食肉动物协会的多物种占用模型

大型食肉动物的数量正在迅速减少，这主要是由于人类压力增加导致土地利用变化所致。这种变化会限制许多物种的可用栖息地，特别是广泛的大型食肉动物。在博茨瓦纳，除了保护区外，还有大片土地被划为野生动物管理区（WMA）。野生动物管理区是许多物种的重要栖息地，可以作为保护区和农牧区之间的缓冲区，同时允许社区利用资源。假设 WMA 周围的土地利用类型、人类住区和猎物可用性可能会影响食肉动物的分布模式。我们对甘孜地区两个 WMA 的 96 个监测站进行了一项相机陷阱研究，并使用 Royles-Nichol 多物种占用模型来测试哪些因素影响九种食肉动物物种的栖息地利用。所有物种的检测概率都很低，而占用率差异很大。狮子在靠近保护区的地方出现最多，而豹子和棕鬣狗则在靠近商业农场的地方出现。黑背豺和狞猫在保护区和商业农业区附近出现的概率很高。尽管黑背豺在牲畜频繁的地区出现率更高，但聚居地点和野生猎物的可用性并没有对任何物种的出现产生强烈影响。随着土地压力持续增加，野生动物的可用栖息地减少，食肉动物等广泛物种很容易受到边缘效应的影响。 WMA 为食肉动物提供了重要的栖息地，可用于改善社区的生计，同时维持卡拉哈里地区的生物多样性。