Data from: Assessing the relationship between illegal hunting of ungulates, wild prey occurrence and livestock depredation rate by large carnivores ...

• Main Authors: Soofi, Mahmood, Ghoddousi, Arash, Zeppenfeld, Thorsten, Shokri, Shirko, Soufi, Mobin, Egli, Lukas, Jafari, Abbas, Ahmadpour, Mohsen, Qashqaei, Ali, Ghadirian, Taher, Filla, Marc, Kiabi, Bahram, Balkenhol, Niko, Waltert, Matthias, Khorozyan, Igor
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2019
• Subjects: illegal-hunting; human-carnivore conflict; Grey wolf; Persian leopard; poaching; Panthera pardus saxicolor; Canis lupus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cb547fm; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.cb547fm

1. Illegal hunting of ungulates can reduce the prey base of carnivores, which can increase human-carnivore conflict (HCC) through livestock depredation. However, the relationship between ungulate poaching, wild prey abundance and livestock depredation has rarely been empirically studied. 2. We surveyed 18 sites across the Hyrcanian forest in northern Iran; a global biodiversity hotspot under pressure of illegal hunting of ungulates, prey depletion, livestock grazing and HCC. We conducted three field surveys across 1204 km in 93 4×4 km cells to count signs of ungulate poaching as well as encounters with livestock and prey species of the Persian leopard Panthera pardus saxicolor and the grey wolf Canis lupus. We documented sheep/goat and cattle depredation from interviews with 201 herders and analysed the effects of illegal hunting of ungulates, forest cover, IUCN categories of reserves, elevation, distance to villages, and wild prey and livestock encounter rates on carnivore depredation rates using ... : Relationship between ungulate poaching and livestock depredation by large carnivoresThe data collected in the field, and simulated in R. Abbreviations are described in the code.Data_Hyrcanian Forest_Carnivores_Poaching_.zip ...