1. Wildlife & Human Conflict
AG-WL-5

2. What are causes of habitat destruction?

3. Habitat can be destroyed by natural causes, human actions, & pollution
Lightning strikes, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, & ice storms
Human Actions
Building highways, subdivisions, factories, agricultural practices
Pollution
Chemical contaminants, landfills, smoke, smog, & acid rain destroy habitat

4. What are human activities that impact wildlife?
Harvest (hunting and fishing)
Introduce exotic species
Fire suppression
Campsite and trail development
Grazing
Mining
Predator control
Harassment

5. What is human-wildlife conflict?
Conflict occurs when wildlife requirements overlap the requirements of human populations.
Species most exposed to conflict are also shown to be more prone to extinction due to human-induced mortality.
Impact human welfare and have economic and social costs.

6. What are driving forces for human-wildlife conflict?
Human Population Growth
As populations increase, settlements expand leading to wildlife habitat encroachment.
Land Use Transformation
Consequence of increasing demand for land, food production, energy and raw materials.
Species habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation
Interconnected with population growth and land use change.

7. What are driving forces for human-wildlife conflict?
Increasing Livestock Populations
Increased densities in livestock production create an overlap of diets and forage competition with wild herbivores
Results in over grazing and decline of local herbivore populations.
Livestock may become source of prey for predators.
Abundance and distribution of wild prey
Abundance prey leads to increased predation.
Decrease prey leads to diet change of predator which then focuses on livestock.
Climatic factors
Seasonal changes in rainfall or temperatures leads to diet and habitat change for animals.

8. What are indicators of human-wildlife confilct?
Species Distribution
Species shift away from human activity may indicate displacement.
Species shift towards human activity may indicate attraction of opportunistic species.
Abundance
Increased abundance may indicate attraction of opportunistic species.
Decreased abundance may indicate displacement of species.

9. What are indicators of human-wildlife confilct?
Populations Trends
Increasing population trends may indicate attraction for opportunistic species
Decreasing population trends may indicate displacement.
Species Diversity
Diversity measures combine information on the number of species and abundance.
A decrease in diversity may indicate some species have been displaced or eliminated.
Does not reflect replacement of one species with another

10. What are indicators of human-wildlife confilct?
Species Composition
Change in composition may indicate displacement of species sensitive to human presence.
May also indicate attraction if the species present are opportunistic
Species Richness
A decrease may indicate displacement of species sensitive to human presence.
An increase may indicate that opportunistic species have moved into an area.
Does not reflect the replacement of one species by another.

11. How can human-wildlife conflict be prevented?
Lethal methods of control should not be first response.
Public education is needed
Improved land use planning