Landscape Features Associated with Damage to Maize ( Zea mays ) Fields in Central México: A Comparison of Wind and Wildlife Damage

Victor Hugo Flores-Armillas, Xavier López-Medellín, Raúl García Barrios, Ian MacGregor-Fors and David Valenzuela-Galván
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Victor Hugo Flores-Armillas: Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca 62209, Morelos, Mexico
Xavier López-Medellín: Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca 62209, Morelos, Mexico
Raúl García Barrios: Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
Ian MacGregor-Fors: Red de Ambiente y Sustentabilidad, Instituto de Ecología, A. C. (INECOL), Xalapa 91070, Veracruz, Mexico
David Valenzuela-Galván: Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Conservación, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca 62209, Morelos, Mexico

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-15

Abstract: Damage to maize ( Zea mays ) fields leads to negative attitudes towards wildlife that can affect conservation. In a Biosphere Reserve in central Mexico, local inhabitants perceive that wildlife causes major damage to maize fields. Therefore, we quantified maize damaged by wildlife species and by wind, and we explored whether this was related to the proportion of land-use categories in the landscape surrounding maize fields and the distance from maize fields to the nearest human settlements, water sources and forest patches. We quantified damaged maize plants and cobs in 180 samples from six 100 m 2 quadrats in each of 30 maize fields. On average, damage in maize fields was less than 2% and 6.5% of the total maize cobs and plants, respectively. The white-nosed coati ( Nasua narica ) and the white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) were responsible for most of the total damage to maize cobs, while wind was responsible for most of the damage to plants. Classification and regression tree analyses (CARTs) revealed that the highest levels of maize cob damage occurred in maize fields with less agricultural land cover in the surrounding landscape units and with longer distances to the nearest villages. Measured levels of maize damage were lower than the amount of damage perceived by local inhabitants. This human–wildlife conflict should be further addressed in the study area to avoid negative consequences for wildlife conservation.

Keywords: human–wildlife conflicts; negative interactions; biosphere reserve; crop raiding; wildlife conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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