Caça de Vertebrados no Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor, Acre

Apesar de a caça de animais silvestres garantir a segurança alimentar de populações rurais e indígenas na Amazônia, a atividade representa um desafio para a conservação da biodiversidade. Mesmo em unidades de conservação (UCs), o impacto da extração de vertebrados ainda é pouco conhecido, dificultando ações de manejo e a implementação de estratégias de conservação adequadas à realidade local. Neste trabalho, apresentamos o perfil da atividade de caça de uma comunidade tradicional do Parque Nacional da Serra do Divisor (PNSD), no sudoeste da Amazônia. Através de entrevistas semiestruturadas, realizadas em janeiro de 2018, e de dados originados de atividades de fiscalização desenvolvidas entre janeiro de 2016 e janeiro de 2018, identificamos que 57,9% dos 69 vertebrados com ocorrência confirmada para a área de uso da comunidade Pé da Serra são alvos de caça para alimentação. Cerca de um quinto das espécies ameaçadas em listas nacionais e internacionais é citado como fonte de alimento. Os ungulados, aves, roedores caviomorfos, o tatu-verdadeiro (Dasypus novemcinctus) e o jabuti (Chelonoidis denticulatus) constituíram os grupos taxonômicos mais frequentemente citados e mais apreciados para consumo. Para o abate e captura de vertebrados cinegéticos, foram registrados o emprego da busca ativa, a focagem com uso de lanternas, armadilhas de arma de fogo e a espera. Os moradores da comunidade também utilizam a fauna silvestre para fins medicinais, como animal de estimação e na alimentação de animais domésticos. Apesar de o comércio de produtos animais não ter sido relatado pelos moradores, verificamos que 30,8% das missões de fiscalização realizadas no PNSD resultaram em apreensão de itens silvestres. A biomassa total interceptada foi de 428,08kg. A espécie mais registrada nas apreensões foi C. denticulatus, totalizando 37,9% do total de animais interceptados. A diversidade de espécies e os usos a elas atribuídos, revelados neste levantamento, destacam a importância do recurso faunístico para as populações humanas do PNSD. É através do uso de técnicas produtivas de baixo impacto, associado a empreendimentos locais de geração alternativa de renda, e criação de mecanismos de governança local, que a biodiversidade poderá ser conservada ou mantida na região

From international to local: promoting local volunteer tourism to guarantee the persistence of wildlife conservation projects in the post-covid-19 era

Volunteer tourists, often foreigners, collect essential data in wildlife conservation projects worldwide. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international tourism activities reduced drastically, forcing many conservation projects to shut down. Using a nine-year (2013–2021) case study in Indonesia, we examine how local and foreign tourists construct the meaning of their volunteer experiences in the light of COVID-19. We aim to highlight the potential benefits of local volunteer tourism to face the travel limitations posed by COVID-19, and to show an example of how conservation projects can overcome the challenges of the current and potential future pandemics. We recruited 117 volunteers (49 Indonesians, 68 foreign; 73 females, 44 males; mean age: 24.2 ± SD 4.7) that collected 50.8% of the total amount of data collected by the project over the same period. Of the 117 volunteers, 81 of them (38 Indonesians, 43 foreigners) filled in a feedback form at the end of their stay. Via logistic regressions, we found that Indonesian volunteers declared more positive feedback on the logistics at the research station (p = 0.047). Via Bayesian structural equation models, we found that Indonesian volunteers reported significantly more frequently than foreign volunteers that they learned new skills (89% Credible Interval = 0.017–0.351) and that they gained personal wisdom, growth and maturity (89% Credible Interval = 0.891–1.003) from the volunteer experience. The volunteer program evolved from being 100% foreign volunteers in 2013 to 100% Indonesian volunteers by 2020 at the peak of the pandemic, which helped maintain the continuity of the research and conservation activities. We presented the positive implications of shifting towards local volunteer tourists in a long-term conservation project. We suggest that promoting local volunteer tourism through training new generations of nationals in conservation projects is key to guarantee the persistence of such initiatives in the post-COVID-19 Era. Volunteer tourists, often foreigners, collect essential data in wildlife conservation projects worldwide. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international tourism activities reduced drastically, forcing many conservation projects to shut down. Using a nine-year (2013–2021) case study in Indonesia, we examine how local and foreign tourists construct the meaning of their volunteer experiences in the light of COVID-19. We aim to highlight the potential benefits of local volunteer tourism to face the travel limitations posed by COVID-19, and to show an example of how conservation projects can overcome the challenges of the current and potential future pandemics. We recruited 117 volunteers (49 Indonesians, 68 foreign; 73 females, 44 males; mean age: 24.2 ± SD 4.7) that collected 50.8% of the total amount of data collected by the project over the same period. Of the 117 volunteers, 81 of them (38 Indonesians, 43 foreigners) filled in a feedback form at the end of their stay. Via logistic regressions, we found that Indonesian volunteers declared more positive feedback on the logistics at the research station (p = 0.047). Via Bayesian structural equation models, we found that Indonesian volunteers reported significantly more frequently than foreign volunteers that they learned new skills (89% Credible Interval = 0.017–0.351) and that they gained personal wisdom, growth and maturity (89% Credible Interval = 0.891−1.003) from the volunteer experience. The volunteer program evolved from being 100% foreign volunteers in 2013 to 100% Indonesian volunteers by 2020 at the peak of the pandemic, which helped maintain the continuity of the research and conservation activities. We presented the positive implications of shifting towards local volunteer tourists in a long-term conservation project. We suggest that promoting local volunteer tourism through training new generations of nationals in conservation projects is key to guarantee the persistence of such initiatives in the post-COVID-19 Era

LED flashlight technology facilitates wild meat extraction across the tropics

Hunting for wild meat in the tropics provides subsistence and income for millions of people. Methods have remained relatively unchanged since the introduction of shotguns and battery-powered incandescent flashlights, but the short battery life of such flashlights has limited nocturnal hunting. However, hunters in many countries throughout the tropics have recently begun to switch to brighter and more efficient light-emitting diode (LED) flashlights. Such brighter spotlights stimulate the freeze response of many species, and improved battery life allows hunters to pursue game more often and for longer periods of time. Interviews with hunters in African and South American tropical forests revealed that LEDs increase the frequency and efficiency of nocturnal hunting, and subsequently the number of kills made. In Brazil, these findings were supported by harvest data. The marked change in efficiency brought about by LEDs, well known to hunters around the world, poses a major threat to wildlife. Here we consider the implications of the increasing use of LED lights in hunting for communities, governments, wildlife managers, and conservationists

Comparative gastrointestinal organ lengths among Amazonian primates (Primates: Platyrrhini)

ObjectivesThe morphological features of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in mammals reflect a species' food niche breadth and dietary adaptations. For many wild mammals, the relationship between the structure of the GIT and diet is still poorly understood, for example, the GIT for frugivorous primates is usually classified as unspecialized and homogeneous. Here, we compare the GIT structure of 13 primate species from the three families of extant platyrrhines (Atelidae, Pitheciidae, and Cebidae) in Amazonia, and discuss possible evolutionary adaptations to different diets and trophic niches.MethodsWe measured the length of the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, cecum, colon, and rectum of the digestive tracts of 289 primate specimens. We determined the allometric relationships of the different tubular organs with the total length of the GIT as a proxy of specimen body size. Allometric parameters were used to establish the quotients of differentiation of every organ for each primate specimen.ResultsThere was a high differentiation in structure of the digestive organs among genera. Alouatta specimens clearly separated from the other genera based on dissimilarities in gastric, colonic, and rectal quotients, likely linked to the fermentation of plant contents. In contrast, all cebines (Sapajus, Cebus, and Saimiri) and Cacajao species had similar small intestine quotients, which is expected due to their high rates of animal matter consumed.ConclusionsWe show that diverse adaptations in digestive structure exist among frugivorous primates, which in turn reflect different dietary patterns within this group that may enable the geographic coexistence of different primate species

Are larger primates less faunivorous? Consumption of arthropods by Amazonian primates does not fulfil the Jarman-Bell and Kay models

Terrestrial arthropod groups, including insects, spiders, and millipedes, represent an important food resource for primates. However, species consumed and patterns and rates of arthropod-related feeding for most frugivorous primates are still poorly known. We examined stomach contents of 178 Amazonian primate specimens of nine genera and three families obtained from community-based collections voluntarily donated by subsistence hunters. Based on our results, we assessed whether consumption patterns followed the expected negative relationship between arthropod ingestion and body size as postulated in the Jarman-Bell and Kay models. We identified 12 consumed arthropod taxa, including insects (beetles, grasshoppers, ants, flies, caterpillars, praying mantises, and others), spiders and millipedes. Medium and large-bodied primates consumed a greater diversity (measured by Simpson’s diversity index) and richness of arthropods, but differed in terms of composition of taxa consumed. Cacajao, Sapajus and Cebus consumed proportionally more Orthoptera and Coleoptera compared to the other primate genera analyzed. We did not find significant correlations between richness and diversity of arthropods consumed and primate body mass. There was a slight tendency for the decrease in the relative content of arthropods in the diet with increased body mass in medium and large primates, which does not provide full support for the Jarman-Bell and Kay models. The study of arthropod consumption by arboreal primates in the wild remains challenging. Our study suggests that arthropods supply essential nutrients for frugivorous primates, and provides an alternative method to analyse faunal consumption patterns in primates

Involving local communities for effective citizen science: determining game species' reproductive status to assess hunting effects in tropical forests

Involving communities in sustainable wildlife management in tropical forests can ensure food security and livelihoods of millions of forest dwellers that depend on wild meat, and also safeguard hunted species. Mathematical models have been developed to assess hunting sustainability; but these require empirical information on reproductive parameters of the prey species, often challenging to obtain. Here, we suggest that if local people can accurately identify the reproductive status of hunted animals in the field, these data could fill the existing knowledge gap regarding species' life-history traits and enable better assessments of hunting impacts. We first tested whether local people in 15 rural communities in three Amazonian sites could accurately diagnose, before and after training, the pregnancy status of hunted pacas Cuniculus paca, which we use as our model. We then applied the results from these tests to correct reproductive status data of hunted specimens, voluntarily collected over 17 years (2002–2018) as part of a citizen-science project in one of our study sites. We ran generalized additive models to contrast these corrected reproductive rates with those obtained from the direct analysis of genitalia by researchers, and with indices describing game extraction levels (catch-per-unit-effort, CPUE, and age structure of hunted individuals). Before training, interviewees correctly diagnosed pregnancy in 72.5% of tests, but after training, interviewees accurately diagnosed pregnancy in 88.2% of tests, with high improvements especially for earlier pregnancy stages. Monthly pregnancy rates determined by hunters and by researchers were similar. Reported annual pregnancy rates were negatively correlated with CPUE, and positively correlated with the percentage of immatures in the hunted population, in accordance with an expected density-dependent response to variations in hunting levels. Synthesis and applications. We show that the voluntary diagnosis of game species' reproductive status by local people is a feasible method to obtain accurate life-history parameters for hunted tropical species, and to assess hunting effects on game populations. Given that almost half of the protected areas in the world are co-managed by local people, our results confirm the potential of integrating local communities in citizen-science initiatives to ensure faster, low-cost and more accurate data collection for wildlife management

Large-scale trade in a songbird that is extinct in the wild

first_pagesettingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle Large-Scale Trade in a Songbird That Is Extinct in the Wild by Vincent Nijman 1,*ORCID,Marco Campera 1,2,*ORCID,Ahmad Ardiansyah 2,3,Michela Balestri 1,2,Hani R. El Bizri 1ORCID,Budiadi Budiadi 4,Tungga Dewi 2,Katherine Hedger 2ORCID,Rifqi Hendrik 2,Muhammad Ali Imron 4ORCID,Abdullah Langgeng 2,5,Thais Q. Morcatty 1ORCID,Ariana V. Weldon 1ORCID andK. A. I. Nekaris 1,2ORCID 1 Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK 2 Little Fireface Project, Cipaganti, Garut 44163, Indonesia 3 Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group, Wageningen University, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands 4 Faculty of Forestry, Universitas Gajah Madah, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia 5 Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kyoto 484-8506, Japan * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed. Diversity 2021, 13(6), 238; https://doi.org/10.3390/d13060238 Received: 29 April 2021 / Revised: 24 May 2021 / Accepted: 28 May 2021 / Published: 30 May 2021 Download Browse Figures Review Reports Versions Notes Abstract Indonesia is at the epicenter of the Asian Songbird Crisis, i.e., the recognition that the cage bird trade has a devastating impact on numerous imperiled bird species in Asia. The Javan pied starling Gracupica jalla, only in the last five years recognized as distinct from the pied starlings of mainland Southeast Asia, has been declared extinct the wild in 2021. Up until the 1980s, it used to be one of the most common open countryside birds on the islands of Java and Bali, Indonesia. From the early 2000s onwards, the species is commercially bred to meet the demand from the domestic cagebird trade. We conducted 280 market surveys in 25 bird markets in Java and Bali between April 2014 and March 2020, with 15 markets being surveyed at least six times. We recorded 24,358 Javan pied starlings, making it one of the most commonly observed birds in the markets. We established that, conservatively, around 40% of the birds in the market were sold within one week and used this to estimate that at a minimum ~80,000 Javan pied starlings are sold in the bird markets on Java and Bali. The latter represents a monetary value of USD5.2 million. We showed that prices were low in the 1980s, when all birds were sourced from the wild. It became more varied and differentiated in the 2000s when a combination of now expensive wild-caught and cheaper captive-bred birds were offered for sale, and prices stabilized in the 2010s when most, if not all birds were commercially captive-bred. Javan pied starlings are not protected under Indonesian law, and there are no linked-up conservation efforts in place to re-establish a wild population on the islands, although small-scale releases do take place

Amazonia Camtrap: a data set of mammal, bird, and reptile species recorded with camera traps in the Amazon forest.

Abstract : The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on Earth. However, information on Amazonian vertebrate diversity is still deficient and scatteredacross the published, peer-reviewed, and gray literature and in unpublishedraw data. Camera traps are an effective non-invasive method of surveying vertebrates, applicable to different scales of time and space. In this study, we organized and standardized camera trap records from different Amazonregions to compile the most extensive data set of inventories of mammal,bird, and reptile species ever assembled for the area. The complete data setcomprises 154,123 records of 317 species (185 birds, 119 mammals, and13 reptiles) gathered from surveys from the Amazonian portion of eightcountries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru,Suriname, and Venezuela). The most frequently recorded species per taxawere: mammals:Cuniculus paca (11,907 records); birds: Pauxi tuberosa (3713 records); and reptiles:Tupinambis teguixin(716 records). The infor-mation detailed in this data paper opens up opportunities for new ecological studies at different spatial and temporal scales, allowing for a moreaccurate evaluation of the effects of habitat loss, fragmentation, climatechange, and other human-mediated defaunation processes in one of themost important and threatened tropical environments in the world. The data set is not copyright restricted; please cite this data paper when usingits data in publications and we also request that researchers and educator sinform us of how they are using these data