Camera traps (CTs) have been increasingly used for wildlife monitoring worldwide. In the tropics, most CT inventories target wildlife‐friendly sites, and CTs are commonly placed towards wildlife trails. However, it has been argued that this placement strategy potentially provides biased results in comparison to more systematic or randomized approaches. Here, we investigated the impact of CT placement on the remotely sensed mammal diversity in a tropical forest in Gabon by comparing pairs of systematically placed and wildlife‐trail‐oriented CTs. Our survey protocol consisted of 15–17 sampling points arranged on a 2 km² grid and left for one month in the field. This protocol was replicated sequentially in four areas. Each sampling point comprised a CT pair: the ‘systematic CT’, installed at the theoretical point and systematically oriented towards the most uncluttered view; and the ‘trail CT’, placed within a 20‐m radius and facing a wildlife trail. For the vast majority of species, the detection probabilities were comparable between placements. Species average capture rates were slightly higher for trail‐based CTs, though this trend was not significant for any species. Therefore, the species richness and composition of the overall community, such as the spatial distribution patterns (from evenly spread to site‐restricted) of individual species, were similarly depicted by both placements. Opting for a systematic orientation ensures that pathways used preferentially by some species—and avoided by others—will be sampled proportionally to their density in the forest undergrowth. However, trail‐based placement is routinely used, already producing standardised data within large‐scale monitoring programmes. Here, both placements provided a comparable picture of the mammal community, though it might not be necessarily true in depauperate areas. Both types of CT data can nevertheless be combined in multi‐site analyses, since methods now allow accounting for differences in study design and detection bias in original CT data.

Wildlife contributes to the diets, livelihoods and socio-cultural activities of people worldwide; however, unsustainable hunting is a major pressure on wildlife. Regional assessments of the factors associated with hunting offtakes are needed to understand the scale and patterns of wildlife exploitation relevant for policy. We synthesized 83 studies across West and Central Africa to identify the factors associated with variation in offtake. Our models suggest that offtake per hunter per day is greater for hunters who sell a greater proportion of their offtake; among non-hunter-gatherers; and in areas that have better forest condition, are closer to protected areas and are less accessible from towns. We present evidence that trade and gun hunting have increased since 1991 and that areas more accessible from towns and with worse forest condition may be depleted of larger-bodied wildlife. Given the complex factors associated with regional hunting patterns, context-specific hunting management is key to achieving a sustainable future.

Aim: Central Africa shelters diverse and iconic megafauna, which is threatened by climate and land‐use changes and increased hunting‐induced defaunation. Though crucial for coordinating regional conservation actions, how species assemblages are spatially structured remains poorly understood. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap for mammals across central African forests.Location: Tropical moist forests from Nigeria to the Albertine Rift.Methods: An extensive compilation of forest‐dwelling mammal species lists was made from wildlife and bushmeat‐related surveys across central Africa. A beta‐diversity approach enabling the clustering of surveys composed of similar species was implemented to identify and delimit zoogeographic districts, separately for three well‐documented mammal orders: carnivores, primates and artiodactyls. Random forest classification models were then used to identify the environmental determinants of the district's distribution and to produce a continuous zoogeographic map (and associated uncertainties) critical to assess the conservation status of each district and their ongoing threats.Results: While carnivores do not present a clear spatial structure within central African forests, our findings highlight the structuring role of rivers on both primate and artiodactyl assemblages' distributions. We retained eight and six spatially congruent districts for primates and artiodactyls, respectively. These districts were shaped by the Ubangi‐Congo River system, and the Cross and Sanaga Rivers, with a secondary role of insularity and precipitation identified for primates. Highly threatened districts were highlighted, especially in Nigeria and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the latter including vast areas that are understudied and poorly represented in the protected area network.Main Conclusions: Beyond refining our understanding of the diversity and uniqueness of mammalian assemblages across central African forests, our map of zoogeographic districts has far‐reaching implications for the conservation of highly threatened taxa, allowing to target species and areas of interest for further sampling, conservation and rewilding efforts.

The duiker community in Central African rainforests includes a diversity of species that can coexist in the same area. The study of their activity patterns is needed to better understand habitat use or association between the species. Using camera traps, we studied the temporal activity patterns, and quantified for the first time the temporal overlap and spatial co-occurrence between species. Our results show that: (i) Two species are strongly diurnal: Cephalophus leucogaster, and Philantomba congica, (ii) two species are mostly diurnal: C.callipygus and C. nigrifrons, (iii) one species is strongly nocturnal: C.castaneus, (iv) and one species is mostly nocturnal: C.silvicultor. Analyses of temporal activities (for five species) identified four species pairs that highly overlapped ($\widehat{\Delta }$$\ge$0.80), and six pairs that weakly overlapped ($\widehat{\Delta }$ between 0.06 and 0.35). Finally, co-occurrence tests reveal a truly random co-occurrence (p_lt > 0.05 and p_gt > 0.05) for six species pairs, and a positive co-occurrence (p_gt < 0.05) for four pairs. Positive co-occurrences are particularly noted for pairs formed by C.callipygus with the other species (except C. nigrifrons). These results are essential for a better understanding of the coexistence of duikers and the ecology of poorly known species (C. leucogaster and C. nigrifrons), and provide clarification on the activity patterns of C. silvicultor which was subject to controversy. Camera traps proved then to be a powerful tool for studying the activity patterns of free-ranging duiker populations.

Engaging local communities is pivotal for wildlife conservation beyond protected areas, aligning with the 30 × 30 target of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. We assessed the effectiveness of 33 offtake indicators, derived from hunter declarations, in monitoring the status and extent of degradation of hunted wildlife sourced from camera trap surveys and faunal composition analysis. The rodents:ungulates ratio in offtake and the mean body mass of total offtake emerged as practical and robust indicators of faunal degradation within hunting systems, with significant potential for broader application in similar tropical forest environments. Our findings provide a blueprint for managing and conserving natural resources in tropical regions through community-based initiatives. Involving local stakeholders ensures sustainable wildlife use and fosters ownership and responsibility. This study advances conservation efforts, bridging scientific rigor with community engagement for effective biodiversity preservation.

Description du sujet. La faune mammalienne de la Réserve de Biosphère de Luki en République démocratique du Congo est soumise à de fortes pressions anthropiques menaçant son intégrité. Objectifs. Cette étude vise à caractériser la diversité et l’état de conservation de la communauté animale mammalienne de la réserve, non documentés à ce jour. Méthode. Pour y parvenir, une grille de 40 pièges photographiques a été déployée au cœur de la réserve durant 90 jours sur une surface de 32 km2. En parallèle, un suivi journalier de l’activité de chasse de 50 chasseurs, issus de cinq villages situés en périphérie de la réserve, a été entrepris durant 63 jours. Résultats. Les relevés des pièges photographiques ont permis de répertorier 14 taxons de mammifères, identifiés au moins au niveau du genre, parmi lesquels le chimpanzé (Pan troglotydes), espèce menacée d’extinction. Quant aux tableaux de chasse, 18 espèces ont été capturées sur la période suivie. Parmi les principaux groupes d’animaux recensés selon les deux approches, les rongeurs viennent en tête avec respectivement 86,4 % des détections par pièges photographiques et 66,9 % des prises par les chasseurs. Les espèces de taille moyenne, comme les céphalophes, sont peu détectées et peu capturées. Comparée à d’autres aires protégées d’Afrique centrale étudiées avec des dispositifs et des taux d’échantillonnages comparables, la réserve de Biosphère de Luki apparait bien pauvre en termes de diversité des espèces de mammifères. Conclusions. Ces résultats semblent indiquer une forte altération de la communauté mammalienne résidant dans la Réserve de Biosphère de Luki, malgré la présence d’une petite population relictuelle de chimpanzés. L’absence d’espèces de taille moyenne à grande dans les tableaux de chasse et leur très faible détection par pièges photographiques montrent l’urgence d’accroître l’effort de surveillance et questionnent la politique de gestion participative de la réserve mise en place depuis près de 20 années. Status of terrestrial mammal populations in the Luki Biosphere Reserve (Democratic Republic of Congo) Description of the subject. Mammal wildlife inside the Luki Biosphere Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo is under strong anthropic pressure, threatening its integrity. Objectives. This study aims to characterize the diversity and conservation status of the Reserve's mammalian animal community, which has not been documented to date. Method. To carry out this analysis, a grid of 40 camera traps was set up for 90 days within the core area of the Reserve, covering an area of 32 km². Simultaneously, daily monitoring of hunting activity was conducted amongst 50 hunters for 63 days, all from five villages located on the periphery of the reserve. Results. We identified 14 mammalian taxa based on camera trap observations, all of which were identified at least at the genus level, including the endangered chimpanzee (Pan troglotydes). A total of 18 species were hunted during the entire research period. Among the major groups of animals recorded by the two survey approaches, rodents were the most important, representing 86.4 % of camera trap detections and 66.9% of hunted animals, respectively. Medium-sized species, such as duikers, are rarely detected or caught. Compared with other Central African protected areas studied with comparable sampling devices and rates, the Luki Biosphere Reserve appears quite poor, both in terms of richness and diversity. Conclusions. These results suggest a strong alteration of the mammalian community present in the Luki Biosphere Reserve, despite the presence of a small relict population of chimpanzees. Furthermore, the lack of large and medium-sized species in offtake data and their very low detection rates by camera traps indicates the urgent need to increase monitoring efforts and questions the participatory management policy of the reserve that has been in place for nearly 20 years.