Abundance variation of ungulates in two protected areas of the Colombian Guayana estimated with occupancy models

Abstract

Six ungulate species inhabit the Colombian Guiana Shield, a patchily-distributed biogeographic region characterized by poor nutrient soils and by harboring the only forest in Colombia growing on a Precambrian surface. In Colombia, two protected areas are located on the Colombian Guiana Shield, the Tuparro National Natural Park (PNNT, for its Spanish initials) and the Puinawai National Natural Reserve (RNNP, for its Spanish initials), which have a large difference in the configuration and availability of native forest. These ungulates are three deer species (Odocoileus virginianus, Mazama americana and M. nemorivaga), two peccary species (Pecari tajacu and Tayassu pecari) and one tapir specie (Tapirus terrestris). The aims of this study were to estimate and compare the abundance of those six ungulate species in two protected areas located within the Guiana Shield region in Colombia and analyze the relationship with the landscape forest amount and distance to human settlements. The study sites were in PNNT where the landscape is dominated by natural savannas mixed with riparian forests, and RNNP covered by tropical forests. We estimated the relative abundance of each ungulate species using repeated presence-absence data with the occupancy model with heterogeneous detection of Royle and Nichols (2003). Presence detection was obtained from both direct observations and tracks. The direct sightings and tracks we sampled along six transects in PNNT and nine in RNNP (244.4 km at PNNT and 257 km at RNNP) and track plots of 0.25 m 2 (211 at PNNT and 297 at RNNP). The relative abundance of tapir, collared peccary (P. tajacu) and brocket deer (Mazama spp.) were different between protected areas; we found no differences in the white-lipped peccary abundance (T. pecari). Relative abundance estimation was higher at RNNP for tapirs and brocket deers. In contrast, collared peccary was more abundant in the PNNT. There was positive effect of floodplain forest area abundance of white-lipped peccary. The distance to human settlements had positive effect on collared peccary abundance and negative effect on tapir and white tailed deer (O. virginianus). The higher abundance in the RNNP for tapirs and Mazama spp., brocket deer was unrelated to the forest area, so the difference may be related to local habitat conditions. The white-lipped peccary is sensitive to the forest area in the landscape, but has also been found that riparian forests act as natural corridors. Failure to find differences in abundance can be an indicator of the high habitat quality for these species. The collared peccary has been positively associated to a moderate degree of subdivision of forest at landscape (number of patchs), which could explain the higher abundance in the PNNT. The positive relationship of white-lipped peccary with the floodplain forest coincides with the patterns observed in other Amazonian areas. Finally, the negative effect of the distance from settlements for brocket deer and tapir may be related to low hunting pressure on these species, con...

Identifying Wildlife Corridors Using Local Knowledge and Occupancy Methods along the San Buenaventura-Ixiamas Road, La Paz, Bolivia

“…In general, occupancy values from this study were broadly comparable with previous studies. In the case of lowland tapirs, occupancy along the SBI road (ψ = 0.39) was lower than that observed for T. bairdii in Los Chimalapas, Mexico (ψ = 0.81; Pérez-Irineo & Santos-Moreno, 2016), and T. terrestris in two national protected areas in the Colombian Guiana Shield (ψ = 0.56–0.68 Tuparro National Natural Park and Puinawai National Natural Reserve; Gómez et al., 2016). In the Brazilian Atlantic forest lowland tapir occupancy was highest in protected areas (0.83) and comparable with the SBI Road study in intermediate (0.5) and poorly (0.4) protected portion of the forest (Cruz et al., 2014).…”

“…White-lipped peccary occupancy derived use along the SBI road (w ¼ 0.17) was considerably lower than the aforementioned study sites in Colombia (0.44-0.51;G omez et al, 2016) and Mexico (0.32; P erez-Irineo & Santos-Moreno, 2016), and Madre de Dios in southern Peru (w ¼ 0. 64-0.93;Tobler et al, 2015), emphasizing the value of identified corridors to retain connectivity between the neighboring Madidi National Park and the surrounding lowlands.…”

“…Similarly, published occupancy values for collared peccaries were high in two protected areas in the Colombian Guiana Shield (0.89–0.93; Gómez et al., 2016), as well as the Tambopata National Reserve in southern Peru (0.93; Licona et al., 2011), and 0.68 to 0.7 in a broader study across Madre de Dios (Tobler et al., 2015). Occupancy values in an unprotected area of southeastern Mexico (0.59; Pérez-Irineo & Santos-Moreno, 2016) and in and around a protected area in the Brazilian Cerrado (0.5; Paolino et al., 2016) were comparable with results reported here (ψ = 0.5).…”

“…Previous occupancy studies for brocket deer ( Mazama spp.) have been typically high, between 0.82–1 (Gómez et al., 2016; Licona et al., 2011; Pérez-Irineo & Santos-Moreno, 2016). In a study in the Atlantic forest in Brazil brocket deer occupancy was highest at sites with a high large tree density and in areas greater than 500 m from water (Ferreguetti et al., 2015).…”

Sostenibilidad de la caza de mamíferos en tres territorios indígenas de la cuenca alta del Putumayo, Nororiente de la Amazonía peruana

“…Es muy bueno para especies sensibles a la presencia humana, ariscas, crípticas y raras, y especies con hábitos nocturnos. El registro de huellas es útil en especies cuya pisada es única y bien diferenciada como en el caso de los pecaríes (Gómez et al, 2016;Fragoso et al, 2016;Pérez-Peña et al, 2019b;Ramos-Rodríguez et al, 2019). Las huellas fueron registradas durante el recorrido de los transectos, donde el especialista anotó los datos de la especie, distancia en la trocha y hábitat.…”