Effects of selective logging on large mammal populations in a remote indigenous territory in the northern Peruvian Amazon

Abstract

ABSTRACT. We examined the effects of selective timber logging carried out by local indigenous people in remote areas within indigenous territories on the mammal populations of the Yavari-Mirin River basin on the Peru-Brazil border. Recent findings show that habitat change in the study area is minimal, and any effect of logging activities on large mammal populations is highly likely to be the result of hunting associated with logging operations. We used hunting registers to estimate the monthly and yearly biomass extracted during timber operations and to calculate the catch per unit effort (CPUE) in subsistence hunting in the community of Esperanza 2 to 5 years before logging activities started and 4 to 7 years after logging began. We also used line transects and the distance method to estimate animal densities before and after logging. We found that 1389 hunted animals and 27,459 kg of mammal biomass were extracted per year from logging concessions. CPUE for ungulates declined; however, it increased for other mammal orders, such as rodents and primates, indicating a shift to alternative prey items. Although collared peccaries (Pecari tajacu) and tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) may also have declined in numbers, this shift may have been caused by a possibly natural population crash in white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) that coincided with the logging periods. We found no evidence that populations of primates were reduced by the logging activities. Because primates are sensitive to hunting, and their populations were of principal concern as logging commenced, this indicates that these forests remain of high conservation value. The unusual socioeconomic situation of these remote territories may mean that they are compatible with wildlife conservation in the Yavari-Mirin basin.

Logging and indigenous hunting impacts on persistence of large Neotropical animals

“…Hunting may reduce animal abundances in areas that experience the highest hunting rates, but these same areas may also represent favorable habitats for wildlife and continue to receive dispersing individuals from surrounding forests (Mayor et al . , Iwamura et al . ).…”

Logging Activity Adversely Impacts Primate Diversity and Density in the Kwabre Rainforest of Ghana

“…A factor that may have also influenced our findings could be the proximity of some fringe communities to the forest edge. During the study, it was observed that logged areas were closer to fringe communities and farms, making such areas more susceptible to human disturbances such as poaching [17,32]. Some of these differences in human and ecological variables may have influenced our findings.…”

“…These activities, when unchecked, may adversely affect several species, particularly canopy dwelling primates. Existing studies of the impact of anthropogenic forest disturbance on primate populations have provided valuable insights into (i) effects of selective logging on primate density [13][14][15][16][17][18]; (ii) the role of habitat disturbances in diet selection and primate abundance [14,19]; and (iii) behavioural and physiological responses of primates to habitat alteration [20,21]. In Ghana, no one has yet undertaken a quantitative assessment of the impacts of logging on primate abundance.…”

Molecular Epidemiology of Trypanosomatids and Trypanosoma cruzi in Primates from Peru

“…This may be a frequent threat in rural communities where wild animals are hunted for subsistence, because carcasses are handled with bare hands. Indeed, wildlife subsistence hunting in the Amazon region is a traditional source of food for rural populations (FitzGibbon 1998), and primates represent an important source of meat in the region (Puertas 2004; Bowler et al 2014; Mayor et al 2015). Furthermore, meat in these rural settings may be ingested raw or undercooked, and parasite pseudocysts and blood form trypomastigotes in the hunted animals could represent a high-risk of infection (Pereira et al 2009).…”