3 - Ecological Effects of Warfare on Wildlife

Summary

An emerging goal in conservation biology is to understand the impacts of armed conflict on wildlife populations and biodiversity, which in principle can be either positive or negative. The chapter reviews the available information about the effects of conflicts on wildlife harvest and habitat loss. The few large-scale quantitative analyses to date suggest that, on average, conflict intensifies both direct exploitation and habitat conversion. However, location-specific case studies present exceptions to this general pattern. Explaining these outcomes requires deeper insight into the mechanisms by which conflict affects wildlife, but the deficiency of data about wildlife population trends in conflict-prone regions remains a serious obstacle. The chapter discusses innovative and more traditional methods for expanding the knowledge base and reducing the prevailing biases – both geographic and taxonomic – in the existing ecological data. Last, it briefly surveys encouraging evidence that post-war interventions can rehabilitate wildlife populations and coupled human-natural systems on surprisingly rapid timescales.