Regionalization of environmental and anthropic variables associated to livestock predation by large carnivores in Mexico

Conflicts with humans are one of the main causes of the decline in populations of large carnivores, making it a crucial conservation issue worldwide. In Mexico, jaguar Panthera onca, puma Puma concolor and American black bear Ursus americanus are involved in livestock predation and are persecuted in retaliation. The sites where predation occurs are distributed throughout the country and differ not only in environmental characteristics, but also in social, economic and livestock management practices. However, due to the general focus of the studies carried out so far, the proposed mitigation measures are also general. It is necessary to consider conditions that encourage predation in the design of strategies to be more effective. In this study, environmental, anthropic and livestock management characteristics of livestock predation by large carnivores were analyzed for conflict regionalization. The variables most related to predation sites were identified, with a high percentage of them being livestock management practices. Based on these variables, we formed clusters of similar sites and analyzed their spatial distribution, which presented grouping patterns in the cases of predation by puma and black bear, in contrast to the jaguar clusters, which presented a dispersed distribution. Considering the characteristics of the clusters, we propose as mitigation measures the confinement of livestock, construction or improvement of corrals and improvement of management practices. The anthropic component and livestock management practices are closely related to the predation events and, therefore, their inclusion in the conservation programs of carnivores in Mexico is fundamental. In Mexico, jaguar, puma and American black bear are the main carnivores involved in predation of livestock and are hunted in retaliation. We made a regionalization for the whole country about the potential effectiveness of mitigation measures, such as confinement of livestock, construction or improvement of corrals and improvement of management practices of sheep and goats. The anthropic component and livestock management practices are closely related to the patterns of distribution of predation events and, therefore, their inclusion in the conservation programs of carnivore species in Mexico is fundamental.