Medium and large sized mammals of the Boqueirão da Onça, North of Bahia State, Brazil

Abstract

The mosaic of protected areas of Boqueirão da Onça (8.636 km²), created in the north of Bahia state, is located in the Caatinga, an exclusively Brazilian biome, but exposed to a range of anthropic impacts that threaten its species and natural resources. Few data are available for various zoological groups in Caatinga, including mammals. In order to characterize the community of mammals of this region, considering species richness, we installed 80 camera-trap stations. With a sampling effort of 10,370 camera-days we recorded 28 species (22 wild and six domestic). Opportunistically, we recorded four mammals, resulting in a total richness of 32 species, five of which are included in the global list of endangered species, and seven in the national list. The results are significant, since the richness of wild mammals of the Boqueirão da Onça (S = 26) presented a high value when compared to other Caatinga localities. During the study we found evidence of human activities threatening the conservation of the region, such as poaching and deforestation. Therefore, there is an urgent need in the publication of the Management Plan of the recently created Boqueirão da Onça National Park, to minimize negative impacts on biodiversity and ensure the maintenance of ecological processes.

Using an occupancy approach to identify poaching hotspots in protected areas in a seasonally dry tropical forest

“…Mammalian poaching in Caatinga has already proved unsustainable, as local extinctions and population declines of Mazama gouazoubira , Pecari tajacu and Tolypeutes tricinctus have been documented ( Alves et al, 2016 ; Barboza et al, 2016 ). Not surprisingly, these game species are classified at some level of concern for conservation, especially in the state of Bahia ( Campos et al, 2019 ). Contrary to our expectations, poachers' detection probability was negatively affected by the frequency of prey species.…”

“…An example of this is the mosaic of protected areas of Boqueirão da Onça, where the proposal to create the National Park lasted 16 years. Successive changes due to different land use and occupation interests in the region culminated in the creation of a mosaic of different types of protected areas, with a reduction of >50% in the area of the National Park, originally proposed ( Campos et al, 2019 ). In addition, Brazilian law provides that private areas within the boundaries of National Parks will be expropriated ( Brasil, 2006 ).…”

New occurrences of Hoary Fox, Lycalopex vetulus (Lund, 1842), and Pantanal Cat, Leopardus braccatus (Cope, 1889) (Mammalia, Carnivora), in a Cerrado-Caatinga-Atlantic Forest ecotone in northeastern Brazil

“…The occurrence of L. braccatus in the Caatinga is contentious (Nascimento et al 2016), and while the new record presented here approximates its distributional range to the biome, it is possible that L. braccatus may occur only marginally in this ecosystem. Previously published extensive surveys in core areas of the Caatinga, i.e., typical xerophytic habitat, do not indicate the presence of either Leopardus braccatus or Lycalopex vetulus (Marinho et al 2018;Campos et al 2019). Therefore, it is likely that these two open-areas dwellers are absent from the seasonally dry forests of the Caatinga, being restricted to its margins or to savannic enclaves of Cerrado within this ecosystem.…”

Nonvolant Mammals in a Fragment of Arboreal Caatinga in Northeastern Brazil

“…The construction of artificial water reservoirs guarantees the availability of this scarce resource for wildlife throughout the year. In semi-arid environments, the availability of water is one of the primary factors limiting biological diversity (Campos et al 2019, Weiler et al 2020. Hence, permanent artificial bodies of water provide a critical resource for resident species, especially during prolonged droughts (Astete et al 2017, Weiler et al 2020.…”