Hunting territories and land use overlap in sedentarised Baka Pygmy communities in southeastern Cameroon
Abstract A significant number of Baka Pygmies in Cameroon have been sedentarised in roadside villages, in contrast to their nomadic hunter-gatherer existence of the past. Although this change in lifestyle has had important consequences on health, most Baka villages still supplement their diets from...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2021-02-01
|
| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83223-y |
| _version_ | 1818994545558290432 |
|---|---|
| author | Julia E. Fa Guillermo Ros Brull Eva Ávila Martin Robert Okale François Fouda Miguel Ángel Fárfan Bradley Cain Rohan Fisher Lauren Coad Stephan M. Funk |
| author_facet | Julia E. Fa Guillermo Ros Brull Eva Ávila Martin Robert Okale François Fouda Miguel Ángel Fárfan Bradley Cain Rohan Fisher Lauren Coad Stephan M. Funk |
| author_sort | Julia E. Fa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract A significant number of Baka Pygmies in Cameroon have been sedentarised in roadside villages, in contrast to their nomadic hunter-gatherer existence of the past. Although this change in lifestyle has had important consequences on health, most Baka villages still supplement their diets from forest products, especially wild meat. We used a combination of participatory methods and monitoring of individual hunters to map hunting territories in 10 Baka villages in southeastern Cameroon. From these, we determined whether wild meat extraction levels per village were related to the size of hunting territories, measured habitat use by hunters and finally defined the overlap between hunting territories and extractive industries in the region. Mapped village hunting areas averaged 205.2 ± 108.7 km2 (range 76.8–352.0 km2); all villages used a total of 2052 km2. From 295 tracks of 51 hunters, we showed that hunters travelled an average of 16.5 ± 13.5 km (range 0.9–89.8 km) from each village. Home ranges, derived from kernel utilization distributions, were correlated with village offtake levels, but hunter offtake and distance travelled were not significantly related, suggesting that enough prey was available even close to the villages. Hunters in all village areas exhibited a clear bias towards certain habitats, as indicated by positive Ivlev’s index of selectivity values. We also showed that all village hunting territories and hunter home ranges fall within mining and logging concessions. Our results are important for local understanding of forest land uses and to reconcile these with the other land uses in the region to better inform decisions concerning land use policy and planning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T20:59:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-226c61f76e9c4ba4978a8cb109fcc93b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T20:59:39Z |
| publishDate | 2021-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-226c61f76e9c4ba4978a8cb109fcc93b2022-12-21T19:26:44ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222021-02-0111111410.1038/s41598-021-83223-yHunting territories and land use overlap in sedentarised Baka Pygmy communities in southeastern CameroonJulia E. Fa0Guillermo Ros Brull1Eva Ávila Martin2Robert Okale3François Fouda4Miguel Ángel Fárfan5Bradley Cain6Rohan Fisher7Lauren Coad8Stephan M. Funk9Department of Natural Sciences, School of Science and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityZerca Y Lejos ONGDZerca Y Lejos ONGDZerca Y Lejos ONGDZerca Y Lejos ONGDDepartamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de MálagaDepartment of Natural Sciences, School of Science and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityResearch Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin UniversityCenter for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), CIFOR HeadquartersNature HeritageAbstract A significant number of Baka Pygmies in Cameroon have been sedentarised in roadside villages, in contrast to their nomadic hunter-gatherer existence of the past. Although this change in lifestyle has had important consequences on health, most Baka villages still supplement their diets from forest products, especially wild meat. We used a combination of participatory methods and monitoring of individual hunters to map hunting territories in 10 Baka villages in southeastern Cameroon. From these, we determined whether wild meat extraction levels per village were related to the size of hunting territories, measured habitat use by hunters and finally defined the overlap between hunting territories and extractive industries in the region. Mapped village hunting areas averaged 205.2 ± 108.7 km2 (range 76.8–352.0 km2); all villages used a total of 2052 km2. From 295 tracks of 51 hunters, we showed that hunters travelled an average of 16.5 ± 13.5 km (range 0.9–89.8 km) from each village. Home ranges, derived from kernel utilization distributions, were correlated with village offtake levels, but hunter offtake and distance travelled were not significantly related, suggesting that enough prey was available even close to the villages. Hunters in all village areas exhibited a clear bias towards certain habitats, as indicated by positive Ivlev’s index of selectivity values. We also showed that all village hunting territories and hunter home ranges fall within mining and logging concessions. Our results are important for local understanding of forest land uses and to reconcile these with the other land uses in the region to better inform decisions concerning land use policy and planning.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83223-y |
| spellingShingle | Julia E. Fa Guillermo Ros Brull Eva Ávila Martin Robert Okale François Fouda Miguel Ángel Fárfan Bradley Cain Rohan Fisher Lauren Coad Stephan M. Funk Hunting territories and land use overlap in sedentarised Baka Pygmy communities in southeastern Cameroon Scientific Reports |
| title | Hunting territories and land use overlap in sedentarised Baka Pygmy communities in southeastern Cameroon |
| title_full | Hunting territories and land use overlap in sedentarised Baka Pygmy communities in southeastern Cameroon |
| title_fullStr | Hunting territories and land use overlap in sedentarised Baka Pygmy communities in southeastern Cameroon |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hunting territories and land use overlap in sedentarised Baka Pygmy communities in southeastern Cameroon |
| title_short | Hunting territories and land use overlap in sedentarised Baka Pygmy communities in southeastern Cameroon |
| title_sort | hunting territories and land use overlap in sedentarised baka pygmy communities in southeastern cameroon |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83223-y |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT juliaefa huntingterritoriesandlanduseoverlapinsedentarisedbakapygmycommunitiesinsoutheasterncameroon AT guillermorosbrull huntingterritoriesandlanduseoverlapinsedentarisedbakapygmycommunitiesinsoutheasterncameroon AT evaavilamartin huntingterritoriesandlanduseoverlapinsedentarisedbakapygmycommunitiesinsoutheasterncameroon AT robertokale huntingterritoriesandlanduseoverlapinsedentarisedbakapygmycommunitiesinsoutheasterncameroon AT francoisfouda huntingterritoriesandlanduseoverlapinsedentarisedbakapygmycommunitiesinsoutheasterncameroon AT miguelangelfarfan huntingterritoriesandlanduseoverlapinsedentarisedbakapygmycommunitiesinsoutheasterncameroon AT bradleycain huntingterritoriesandlanduseoverlapinsedentarisedbakapygmycommunitiesinsoutheasterncameroon AT rohanfisher huntingterritoriesandlanduseoverlapinsedentarisedbakapygmycommunitiesinsoutheasterncameroon AT laurencoad huntingterritoriesandlanduseoverlapinsedentarisedbakapygmycommunitiesinsoutheasterncameroon AT stephanmfunk huntingterritoriesandlanduseoverlapinsedentarisedbakapygmycommunitiesinsoutheasterncameroon |