Abstract The bush-meat poaching crisis is a significant threat to biodiversity in tropical forest and savannah biomes, however its impacts on wild animal populations are often difficult to quantify across large spatial scales. Using data from 17 camera trap survey sites in southern Africa, within the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area, we show it is possible to assess the demographic impact of wire-snare bush-meat poaching on large carnivore populations, distribution of snaring hotspots and drivers of bush-meat poaching prevalence across this landscape. Results suggest that mortalities in snares may have significant demographic effects on lions (Panthera leo) and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) with evidence for population declines and extirpation of large carnivores in the most heavily affected areas. Spatial drivers of bush-meat poaching were found to be a composite of anthropogenic threat scores, environmental resource extraction, protected area size and land-use type. Incidences of snared large carnivores were more prevalent in trophy hunting areas than national parks. Across our study sites, bush-meat poaching has the potential to cause severe declines in populations of large carnivores, particularly in small isolated protected areas surrounded by areas of high human population growth, with resulting loss of regional connectivity and increasing fragmentation of the KAZA landscape.

中文翻译：

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评估捕食大型食肉动物的钢丝圈套丛林肉偷猎的空间强度和人口影响

摘要 丛林肉偷猎危机对热带森林和热带草原生物群落的生物多样性构成重大威胁，但其对野生动物种群的影响往往难以在大空间尺度上量化。使用来自南部非洲卡万戈-赞比西河 (KAZA) 跨界保护区内 17 个摄像头陷阱调查点的数据，我们表明可以评估钢丝圈套丛林肉偷猎对大型食肉动物种群的人口统计影响、圈套分布整个景观中丛林肉偷猎流行的热点和驱动因素。结果表明，圈套中的死亡率可能对狮子 (Panthera leo) 和斑点鬣狗 (Crocuta crocuta) 产生显着的人口影响，有证据表明在受影响最严重的地区，大型食肉动物的数量下降和灭绝。发现丛林肉偷猎的空间驱动因素是人为威胁评分、环境资源开采、保护区大小和土地利用类型的综合。在战利品狩猎区，大型食肉动物被诱捕的发生率比国家公园更为普遍。在我们的研究地点，丛林肉偷猎有可能导致大型食肉动物的数量严重下降，特别是在人口密集地区周围的小型孤立保护区，从而导致区域连通性的丧失和 KAZA 景观的日益破碎化.