Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 3.5 A research assistant using a cybertracker to record hunter locations, Rio
Muni, Equatorial Guinea. Photo © Nöelle Kümpel.
size than is possible if the number of follows is limited by the researcher's presence.
One potential problem is getting a good GPS signal in dense forest. Researchers
have also had trouble with programming and downloading the data, and with
ensuring adequate supervision of the people using them. They are expensive items
and vulnerable to theft and damage. However, in the right circumstances, cyber-
trackers have the potential to revolutionise the collection of hunter data.
A particularly interesting aspect of resource user behaviour is how users perceive
and respond to prey depletion. There are a number of options, including increas-
ing their effort (for example, laying more snares) or moving to a new area. The
effect that users have on their prey can only be well understood in the context of
these decisions. Hence, researchers on resource user behaviour can obtain both
qualitative data on how users choose when and where to operate, and quantitative
data on the actual encounters that they have when out hunting or gathering.
Combining these two data types into a model of resource user decisions will be a
major challenge, but one that will improve our understanding of user behaviour.
Muchaal and Ngandjui (1999) note that there is a high level of variation in
hunter effort and success. Some of this is due to external factors, such as the season.
Some is to do with choices made by hunters, such as the location they hunt in
Search WWH ::




Custom Search