Logging and indigenous hunting impacts on persistence of large Neotropical animals

Author(s): Roopsind, A. Caughlin, T.T. Sambhu, H. Fragoso, J.M.V. Putz, F.E.
Publication Year: 2017
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source: Biotropica
Code:
Access to the Study:
Permanent Resource Identifier: Open link
FSC Resource Identifier: Open link
Collections: FSC Research Portal
Abstract

Areas allocated for industrial logging and community-owned forests account for over 50% of all remaining tropical forests. Landscape-scale conservation strategies that include these forests are expected to have substantial benefits for biodiversity, especially for large mammals and birds that require extensive habitat but that are susceptible to extirpation due to synergies between logging and hunting. In addition, their responses to logging alone are poorly understood due to their cryptic behavior and low densities. In this study, we assessed the effects of logging and hunting on detection and occupancy rates of large vertebrates in a multiple-use forest on the Guiana Shield. Our study site was certified as being responsibly managed for timber production and indigenous communities are legally guaranteed use-rights to the forest. We coupled camera-trap data for wildlife detection with a spatially explicit dataset on indigenous hunting. A multi-species occupancy model found a weak positive effect of logging on occupancy and detection rates, while hunting had a weak negative effect. Model predictions of species richness were also higher in logged forest sites compared to unlogged forest sites. Density estimates for jaguars and ocelots in our multiple-use area were similar to estimates reported for fully protected areas. Involvement of local communities in forest management, control of forest access, and nesting production forests in a landscape that includes protected areas seemed important for these positive biodiversity outcomes. The maintenance of vertebrate species bodes well for both biodiversity and the humans that depend on multiple-use forests.

Summary
Sponsors
Citation
Sustainability dimension(s): 2. Environmental
Subject Keywords:
Regions: South America
Countries: Guyana
Forest Zones: Tropical
Forest Type: Natural Forest
Tenure Ownership: (not yet curated)
Tenure Management: (not yet curated)
Evidence Category: FSC effect-related studies
Evidence Type: (not yet curated)
Evidence Subtype: (not yet curated)
Data Type: Case studies