Title:

Modeling the viability of the free-ranging cheetah population in Namibia: an object-oriented Bayesian network approach

Publication Year:
2013
Abstract:

Conservation of free-ranging cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) populations is multi faceted and Needs to be addressed from an ecological, biological and management perspective. There is a wealth of published research, each focusing on a particular aspect of cheetah conservation. Identifying the most important factors, making sense of various (and sometimes contrasting) findings, and taking decisions when little or no empirical data is available, are everyday challenges facing conservationists. Bayesian networks (BN) provide a statistical modeling framework that enables analysis and integration of information addressing different aspects of conservation. There has been an increased interest in the use of BNs to model conservation issues, however the development of more sophisticated BNs, utilizing object-oriented (OO) features, is still at the frontier of ecological research. We describe an integrated, parallel modeling process followed during a BN modeling workshop held in Namibia to combine expert knowledge and data about free-ranging cheetahs. The aim of the workshopwas to obtain a more comprehensive view of the current viability of the free-ranging cheetah population in Namibia, and to predict the effect different scenarios may have on the future viability of this free-ranging cheetah population.

Publication Title:

Ecosphere

Volume:
4
Issue:
7
Pages:
90
Item Type:
Journal Article
Language:
en

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