Hunting in tropical forests is typically most intense near human settlements, and this creates gradients of decreasing animal densities toward those settlements. Within the context of this spatial pattern, we evaluated the status of game in the hunting grounds of an indigenous community in eastern Ecuador. We constructed a spatially explicit model of hunter-prey interactions that mimicked the hunting in the village and included realistic animal-dispersal rules. We compared predictions from the model with distributions of animal harvest rates and catch per unit effort of 12 game species. Six species were overharvested in part or all of the area, and two other species were probably being overharvested, although high dispersal rates complicated the interpretation. We then compared our method with methods that have been used previously. We argue that because our method provides information about the spatial extent of overharvesting, it could be particularly useful in informing decision makers about where to establish no-take areas and could therefore aid in improving the sustainability of hunting in tropical forests. Inclusión de Heterogeneidad Espacial y Dispersión de Animales al Evaluar Cacería: un Análisis de Modelo y una Estimación Empírica en una Comunidad AmazónicaResumen: Típicamente, la cacería en bosques tropicales es más intensa cerca de asentamientos humanos, y esto crea gradientes de densidades animales decrecientes hacia esos asentamientos. En el contexto de este patrón espacial evaluamos el estatus de animales en los terrenos de cacería de una comunidad indígena en el este de Ecuador. Construimos un modelo espacialmente explícito de interacciones cazador-presa que imitaba la cacería en el poblado e incluía reglas reales de dispersión de animales. Comparamos las predicciones del modelo con las distribuciones de tasas de cosecha y de captura por unidad de esfuerzo de 12 especies cinegéticas. Seis especies eran sobre explotadas en parte de o toda elárea, y probablemente dos especies más eran sobre explotadas, aunque altas tasas de dispersión complicaron la interpretación. Luego comparamos nuestro método con métodos utilizados previamente. Debido a que nuestro método proporciona información sobre la extensión espacial de la sobre explotación, sostenemos que puede ser particularmenteútil para informar a tomadores de decisiones sobre donde estableceráreas sin captura y por tanto ayudar al mejoramiento de la sustentabilidad de la cacería en bosques tropicales.Palabras Clave: Amazonía,áreas sin captura, cosecha sustentable, esfuerzo de caza, modelo de cosecha espacialmente explícito

Aim To map and interpret floristic and geoecological patterns across the Amazon basin by combining extensive field data with basin‐wide Landsat imagery and climatic data. Location Amazonia. Taxon Ground truth data on ferns and lycophytes; remote sensing results reflect forest canopy properties. Methods We used field plot data to assess main ecological gradients across Amazonia and to relate floristic ordination axes to soil base cation concentration, Climatologies at High Resolution for the Earth's Land Surface Areas (CHELSA) climatic variables and reflectance values from a basin‐wide Landsat image composite with generalized linear models. Ordination axes were then predicted across all Amazonia using Landsat and CHELSA, and a regional subdivision was obtained using k‐medoid classification. Results The primary floristic gradient was strongly related to base cation concentration in the soil, and the secondary gradient to climatic variables. The Landsat image composite revealed a tapestry of broad‐scale variation in canopy reflectance characteristics across Amazonia. Ordination axis scores predicted using Landsat and CHELSA variables produced spatial patterns consistent with existing knowledge on soils, geology and vegetation, but also suggested new floristic patterns. The clearest dichotomy was between central Amazonia and the peripheral areas, and the available data supported a classification into at least eight subregions. Main conclusions Landsat data are capable of predicting soil‐related species compositional patterns of understorey ferns and lycophytes across the Amazon basin with surprisingly high accuracy. Although the exact floristic relationships may differ among plant groups, the observed ecological gradients must be relevant for other plants as well, since surface reflectance recorded by satellites is mostly influenced by the tree canopy. This opens exciting prospects for species distribution modelling, conservation planning, and biogeographical and ecological studies on Amazonian biota. Our maps provide a preliminary geoecological subdivision of Amazonia that can now be tested and refined using field data of other plant groups and from hitherto unsampled areas.

Human adaptation depends upon the integration of slow life history, complex production skills, and extensive sociality. Refining and testing models of the evolution of human life history and cultural learning will benefit from increasingly accurate measurement of knowledge, skills, and rates of production with age. We pursue this goal by inferring individual hunters' of hunting skill gain and loss from approximately 23,000 hunting records 20 generated by more than 1,800 individuals at 40 locations. The model provides an improved picture of ages of peak productivity as well as variation within and among ages. The data reveal an average age of peak productivity between 30 and 35 years of age, though high skill is maintained throughout much of adulthood. In addition, there is substantial variation both among individuals and sites. Within study sites, variation among individuals depends 25 more upon heterogeneity in rates of decline than in rates of increase. This analysis sharpens questions about the co-evolution of human life history and cultural adaptation. It also demonstrates new statistical algorithms and models that expand the potential inferences drawn from detailed quantitative data collected in the field.Ohtsuka 1989) while others do not (Bird and Bliege Bird 2005).

Human adaptation depends on the integration of slow life history, complex production skills, and extensive sociality. Refining and testing models of the evolution of human life history and cultural learning benefit from increasingly accurate measurement of knowledge, skills, and rates of production with age. We pursue this goal by inferring hunters’ increases and declines of skill from approximately 23,000 hunting records generated by more than 1800 individuals at 40 locations. The data reveal an average age of peak productivity between 30 and 35 years of age, although high skill is maintained throughout much of adulthood. In addition, there is substantial variation both among individuals and sites. Within study sites, variation among individuals depends more on heterogeneity in rates of decline than in rates of increase. This analysis sharpens questions about the coevolution of human life history and cultural adaptation.

Shifting cultivation practiced by indigenous peoples living at low population densities in tropical forests has often been described as sustainable and compatible with conservation. However, shifting cultivation at increasing population densities has historically been, and still is, a main cause of deforestation worldwide. As many indigenous peoples in tropical forests currently experience rapid demographic growth, this raises the question to what extent their agricultural activities actually contribute to deforestation. This paper examines land use change in an indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon which is only loosely connected to the market economy, and where agriculture is almost exclusively subsistence oriented. During the last seven decades, people have increasingly begun to clear fallows instead of old-growth forest to farm. Although the population was growing at an estimated 1.6% per year, the expansion of the area of land used for agriculture was only 0.4% per year, corresponding to an annual deforestation rate of only 0.015%. Whereas these changes may seem negligible in terms of deforestation, they do cause hardships to the local people, because of increasing walking distance to old-growth forest, and problems with weeds, pests, and decreasing soil productivity when farming after reclearing fallows.

Understanding what causes variability in the outcomes of common-pool resources management and governance has important policy implications for biodiversity conservation, in particular for the conservation of wild plants and animals subject to harvest. We report an exploratory study focusing on Amazonian river turtles as a common-pool resource under harvest-driven conservation and management efforts in Peru. Based on document analysis, literature review and a series of interviews, we describe the management program as a social process and identify the most important governance and management outcomes achieved (increased turtle abundance and benefits for harvesters, harvester formalization), factors hindering and facilitating the program implementation (four natural and three societal factors), and key governance actions behind the program outcomes (awareness and capacity building, crafting and enforcing rules). We then highlight the existing knowledge gaps and the needs and possible means to address particular risks related to turtle management on a harvest-driven setting.

The hista, a festival that blends indigenous and Catholic traditions, is an important component of the culture of the Kichwa people of the Ecuadorian Amazon, and hunting is a key part of festival preparations. In the community of Sarayaku the biomass hunted during festival hunting, calculated based on hunters reporting their catch, constitutes less than 4% of the total long-term harvest rate. However, certain species are particularly targeted during festival hunting, some of which are threatened. Particularly for woolly monkeys (Lagothrix spp.) and Salvin's Curassow (Mitu salvini), festival hunting constitutes a large proportion of total offtake. The tradition of celebrating the hista can survive into the future only if wildlife populations are conserved. This is a challenge and an interest shared by local indigenous communities and conservationists alike.

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