Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of scarcity, aesthetics and ecology on wildlife auction prices of large African mammals

  • Report
  • Published:
Ambio Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

For successful integration of biological conservation into economic markets, economic processes need to capture ecological values. South African wildlife ranching is a tourist-based activity that generates unique information on the economic value of wildlife species. We used public data from South African wildlife auctions to evaluate if annual prices 1991–2012 related to species characteristics associated with scarcity, aesthetics and ecology of South African carnivores and ungulates. While none of the species characteristics influenced carnivore prices, ungulate prices were related to characteristics associated with novelty and aesthetics, which relative importance had increased over time. We raise both ecological and economic concerns for this apparent focus. Our results also suggest a potential importance of non-species-related factors, such as market and buyer characteristics. We encourage further evaluation of the relative influences of species characteristics versus factors that are intrinsically linked to economic processes on price variations in South African wildlife.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

References

  • Antelope Specialist Group. 2015. IUCN SSC ASG Position Statement on the Intentional Genetic Manipulation of Antelopes Ver. 1.0 (30 April 2015). IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group. https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/import/downloads/asg_igm_posnsment_2015_final_19may_2015.pdf.

  • Amin, A. 2016. Exploring the role of economic incentives and spillover effects in biodiversity conservation policies in sub-Saharan Africa. Ecological Economics 127: 185–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ayele, G., M.A. Jabbar, H. Teklewold, E. Mulugeta, and G. Kebede. 2006. Seasonal and inter-market differences in prices of small ruminants in Ethiopia. Journal of Food Products Marketing 12: 59–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balmford, A., A. Bruner, P. Cooper, R. Costanza, S. Farber, R.E. Green, M. Jenkins, P. Jefferiss, V. Jessamy, J. Madden, K. Munro, N. Myers, S. Naeem, J. Paavola, M. Rayment, S. Rosendo, J. Roughgarden, K. Trumper, and R.K. Turner. 2002. Economic reasons for conserving wild nature. Science 297: 950–953.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Benjaminsen, T.A., and I. Bryceson. 2012. Conservation, green/blue grabbing and accumulation by dispossession in Tanzania. Journal of Peasant Studies 39: 335–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bothma, J.P., J.G. du Toit, and J. van Rooyen. 2010. Buying and selling wild animals. In Game Ranch Management, ed. J.P. Bothma, 619–639. Johannesburg: Van Schaik.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush, E., S.E. Baker, and D.W. Macdonald. 2014. Global trades in exotic pets 2006–2013. Conservation Biology 28: 663–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, S.R., H.A. Mooney, J. Agard, D. Capistrano, R.S. DeFries, S. Díaz, T. Dietz, A.K. Duraiappah, A. Oteng-Yeboah, H. Miguel Pereira, C. Perrins, W.V. Reid, J. Sarukhan, R.J. Scholes, and A. Whyte. 2009. Science for managing ecosystem services: Beyond the millennium ecosystem assessment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA 106: 1305–1312.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Courchamp, F., E. Angulo, P. Rivalan, R.J. Hall, L. Signoret, L. Bull, and Y. Meinard. 2006. Rarity value and species extinction: The anthropogenic Allee effect. PLoS Biology 4: e415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costanza, R., R. d’Arge, R. de Groot, S. Farberk, M. Grasso, B. Hannon, K. Limburg, S. Naeem, R.V. O’Neill, J. Paruelo, R.G. Raskin, P. Suttonkk, and M. van den Belt. 1997. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387: 253–260.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Coursey, D.L. 1998. The revealed demand for a public good: Evidence from endangered and threatened species. New York University Environmental Law Journal 6: 411–449.

    Google Scholar 

  • Court, A.T. 1939. Hedonic price indexes with automotive examples. The Dynamics of Automotive Demand, 98–119. New York: General Motors.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cousins, J.A., J.P. Sadler, and J. Evans. 2008. Exploring the role of private wildlife ranching as a conservation tool in South Africa: Stakeholder perspectives. Ecology and Society 13: 43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czech, B., P.R. Krausman, and R. Borkhartaria. 1998. Social construction, political power, and allocation of benefits to endangered species. Conservation Biology 12: 1103–1112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalerum, F. 2013. Phylogenetic and functional diversity in large carnivore assemblages. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B Biology 280: 20130049.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dalerum, F. 2014. Identifying the role of conservation biology for solving the environmental crisis. Ambio 43: 839–846.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalerum, F., and M. Miranda. 2016. Game auction prices are not related to biodiversity contributions of southern African ungulates and large carnivores. Scientific Reports 6: 21922.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dalerum, F., M.J. Somers, K.E. Kunkel, and E.Z. Cameron. 2008. The potential for large carnivores to act as biodiversity surrogates in southern Africa. Biodiversity and Conservation 17: 2939–2949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, L.J., K.E. Muller, R.D. Wolfinger, B.F. Qaqish, and O. Schabenberger. 2008. An R2 statistic for fixed effects in the linear mixed model. Statistics in Medicine 27: 6137–6157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich, P.R., and A.H. Ehrlich. 2013. Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided? Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B Biology 280: 20122845.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, G.G. 1995. The Human Dimensions to Wildlife Ecology. Champaign: Illinois University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hector, A., S. Felten, and B. Schmid. 2010. Analysis of variance with unbalanced data: An update for ecology and evolution. Journal of Animal Ecology 79: 308–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Honey, M. 2008. Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaeger, B. 2016. r2glmm: Computes R squared for mixed (multilevel) models. R package version 0.1.1. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=r2glmm.

  • Johnson, P.C.D. 2014. Extension of Nakagawa and Schielzeth’s R 2GLMM to random slopes models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 5: 944–946.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, P.J., R. Kansky, A.J. Loveridge, and D.W. Macdonald. 2010. Size, rarity and charisma: Valuing African wildlife trophies. PLoS ONE 5: e12866.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, K.E., J. Bielby, M. Cardillo, S.A. Fritz, J. O’Dell, C.D.L. Orme, K. Safi, W. Sechrest, E.H. Boakes, C. Carbone, C. Connolly, M.J. Cutts, J.K. Foster, R. Grenyer, M. Habib, C.A. Plaster, S.A. Price, E.A. Rigby, J. Rist, A. Teacher, O.R.P. Bininda-Emonds, J.L. Gittleman, G.M. Mace, and A. Purvis. 2009. PanTHERIA: A species-level database of life history, ecology, and geography of extant and recently extinct mammals. Ecology 90: 2648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kassie, G.T., A. Abdulai, and C. Wollny. 2011. Heteroscedastic hedonic price model for cattle in the rural markets of central Ethiopia. Applied Economics 43: 3459–3464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellert, S.R. 1996. The Value of Life: Biological Diversity and Human Society. Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster, K. 1966. A new approach to consumer theory. Journal of Political Economy 74: 132–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mace, G.M. 2014. Whose conservation? Science 345: 1558–1560.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa, S., and H. Schielzeth. 2013. A general and simple method for obtaining R2 from generalized linear mixed-effects models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 4: 133–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinheiro, J., D. Bates, S. DebRoy, and D. Sarkar. 2016. nlme: Linear and nonlinear mixed effect models. R package version 3.1-127. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=nlme.

  • Rosen, S. 1974. Hedonic prices and implicit markets: Product differentiation in pure competition. Journal of Political Economy 82: 34–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shiller, R.J. 2016. Irrational Exuberance. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, J.D., and C. Chimimba. 2005. Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Snijders, D. 2012. Wild property and its boundaries: On wildlife policy and rural consequences in South Africa. Journal of Peasant Studies 39: 503–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stokes, D. 2007. Things we like: Human preferences among similar organisms and implications for conservation. Human Ecology 35: 361–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, A., P. Lindsey, and H. Davies-Mostert, H. (2016). An assessment of the economic, social and conservation value of the wildlife ranching industry and its potential to support the green economy in South Africa. Green economy research report, Development Bank of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa.

  • Terfa, Z.G., A. Haile, D. Baker, and G.T. Kassie. 2013. Valuation of traits of indigenous sheep using hedonic pricing in Central Ethiopia. Agricultural and Food Economics 1: 6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turnhout, E., C. Waterton, K. Neves, and N. Buizer. 2014. Rethinking biodiversity: From goods and services to “living with”. Conservation Letters 6: 154–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Val-Ilosera, M., and P. Cassey. 2017. Physical attractiveness, constraints to the trade and handling requirements drive the variation in species availability in the Australian cagebird trade. Ecological Economics 131: 407–413.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Merwe, P., M. Saayman, and W. Krugell. 2004. Factors that determine the price of game. Koedoe 47: 105–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veblen, T. 1889. The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNEP. 2011. Towards a green economy: Pathways to sustainable development and poverty eradication—a synthesis for policy makers. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Ben Oban kindly provided compiled data on game prices for 1991–2011. FD received financial support from a Ramón y Cajal fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit of Biodiversity (UO-CSIC-PA), University of Oviedo, Mieres Campus, 33600, Mieres, Asturias, Spain

    Fredrik Dalerum & María Miranda

  2. Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Fredrik Dalerum

  3. Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Fredrik Dalerum

  4. Department of Economics, University of Oviedo, Campus del Cristo, 33006, Oviedo, Asturias, Spain

    Cristina Muñiz & Plácido Rodríguez

  5. Sports Economics Observatory Foundation (FOED), University of Oviedo, Gijon Campus, 33203, Gijon, Asturias, Spain

    Cristina Muñiz & Plácido Rodríguez

Authors
  1. Fredrik Dalerum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. María Miranda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Cristina Muñiz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Plácido Rodríguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fredrik Dalerum.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (PDF 189 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dalerum, F., Miranda, M., Muñiz, C. et al. Effects of scarcity, aesthetics and ecology on wildlife auction prices of large African mammals. Ambio 47, 78–85 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-017-0937-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-017-0937-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation