Human-Wildlife Conflict Modeling for the Conservation of Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) In Urban and Rural Habitats of Dhaka District

Abstract

The study was conducted in the monkey living areas of Dhaka District and its adjacent areas from February 2021 to July 2024. The study was based on a questionnaire survey among local people, which includes a critical assessment of the opinions of local people on different scales. Methods of the Partial Least Squire Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) were used for the development of the Wildlife Tolerance Model (WTM) and evaluation of the Measurement Model (also called the Outer Model). The Smart PLS software was suitable for evaluating the WTM and was used for the study. One hundred twelve people were interviewed during the fieldwork; among them, 100 data were considered for the WTM development and evaluation of the model. In the WTM, different latent variables had significant or insignificant effects on other variables, as shown by respective path coefficients. The current study showed that Cost Intangible (−0.361) and Benefit Intangible (0.389) had moderate to stronger and significant effects on Tolerance, Cost Tangible (−0.147) and Exposure (0.146) had the minimum effects on Tolerance and Positive Meaningful Events (0.015) and Negative Meaningful Events (0.002) had weaker effects on Tolerance. The study found that Exposure (-0.278) had a moderate effect on Negative Meaningful Events but a weaker effect on Positive Meaningful Events (−0.027). Exposure (0.420) had the strongest effect, Negative Meaningful Events (0.387) had the stronger effect and Positive Meaningful Events (−0.072) had the weaker effect on Cost Tangible. Exposure (0.383), Negative Meaningful Event (0.351), and Positive Meaningful Events (−0.307) had moderate to stronger effects on Cost Intangible. Exposure (0.382) had a stronger effect, Positive Meaningful Events (0.059) and Negative Meaningful Events (−0.169) had weaker effects on Benefit Intangible. As it was exploratory research, the outer model or reflective measurement model was evaluated in 4 steps of examinations. For instance, in step 1, the obtained Indicator Reliability value was 5.25 and above the suggested value of ≥0.4, in step 2, the obtained Internal Consistency Reliability value was 0.94 and below the suggested value of ≤0.95, in step 3, the obtained Convergent Validity value was 0.50 and above against the suggested value of ≥0.50 and in step 4, the obtained Discriminant Validity (HTMT) value was 0.755 and below against the suggested value of ≤0.85 (for reflective measurement model). The results of the examination revealed that all indicators were within accepted limits. This study suggests both long-term and short-term conservation measures for reducing human-monkey conflicts and conservation of Rhesus Macaque in Dhaka City, Dhamrai Municipality, and Narayanganj City.