Data from: Assessing the relationship between illegal hunting of ungulates, wild prey occurrence and livestock depredation rate by large carnivores
Mahmood Soofi, Arash Ghoddousi, Thorsten Zeppenfeld, Shirko Shokri, Mobin Soufi, Lukas Egli, Abbas Jafari, Mohsen Ahmadpour, Ali Qashqaei, Taher Ghadirian, Marc Filla, Bahram Kiabi, Niko Balkenhol, Matthias Waltert & Igor Khorozyan
1. Illegal hunting of ungulates can reduce the prey base of carnivores, which can increase human-carnivore conflict (HCC) through livestock depredation. However, the relationship between ungulate poaching, wild prey abundance and livestock depredation has rarely been empirically studied. 2. We surveyed 18 sites across the Hyrcanian forest in northern Iran; a global biodiversity hotspot under pressure of illegal hunting of ungulates, prey depletion, livestock grazing and HCC. We conducted three field surveys across 1204 km...