The effect of corridor to crop damage by Japanese macaques

Abstract

Crop damage by wildlife is becoming an increasingly problem in Japan. A troop of Japanese macaque, Otsuki troop, has been tracked using radio-telemetry near the city of Shibata, Niigata Prefecture. Home range and the core area were determined by the fixed kernel method. Core area of the troop was located around the peninsular-shaped forest sticking out in the crop fields. Landcover was classified using ALOS/AVNIR-2 images. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the environmental factors contributing the presence /absence of crop damage by the troop. In the model of home range, 3 factors were extracted; distance between crop field and forest edge, distance between crop field and settlement, distance between crop field and road. In the model of core area, distance between crop field and forest edge was chosen as a contributing factor. These results indicated crop fields near forests were vulnerable to the damage by macaques. Peninsular-shaped forests were frequently used as corridors connecting crop fields and forest habitat, and facilitate the expansion of damage by macaques.