Data from: Vertebrate community composition and diversity declines along a defaunation gradient radiating from rural villages in Gabon

Anthropocene defaunation is the global phenomenon of human-induced animal
biodiversity loss. Understanding the patterns and process of defaunation
is critical to predict outcomes for wildlife populations and cascading
consequences for ecosystem function and human welfare. We investigated a
defaunation gradient in northeastern Gabon by establishing 24 transects at
varying distances (2–30 km) to rural villages and surveying the abundance
and composition of vertebrate communities. Distance from village was
positively correlated with observations of hunting (shotgun shells,
campfires, hunters), making it a good proxy for hunting pressure. Species
diversity declined significantly with proximity to village, with mammal
richness increasing by roughly 1.5 species every 10 km travelled away from
a village. Compared to forest far from villages, the wildlife community
near villages consisted of higher abundances of large birds and rodents
and lower abundances of large mammals like monkeys and ungulates. Distance
to nearest village emerged as a key driver of the relative abundance of
five of the six taxonomic guilds, indicating that the top–down force of
hunting strongly influences large vertebrate community composition and
structure. Several measures of vegetation structure also explained animal
abundance, but these varied across taxonomic guilds. Forest elephants were
the exception: no measured variable or combination of variables explained
variation in elephant abundances. Synthesis and applications. Hunting is
concentrated within 10 km around villages, creating a hunting halo
characterized by heavily altered animal communities composed of relatively
small-bodied species. Although the strongest anthropogenic effects are
relatively distance-limited, the linear increase in species richness shown
here even at distances 30 km from villages suggests that hunting may have
altered vertebrate abundances across the entire landscape. Central African
forests store >25% of the carbon in tropical forests and are home
to 3000 endemic species, but roughly 53% of the region lies within the
village hunting halo. Resource management strategies should take into
account this hunting-induced spatial variation in animal communities. Near
villages, resource management should focus on sustainable community-led
hunting programs that provide long-term supplies of wild meat to rural
people. Resource management far from villages should focus on law
enforcement and promoting industry practices that maintain remote tracts
of land to preserve ecosystem services like carbon storage and
biodiversity.