Alumni Publications
Abrahams, M.I., Peres, C.A., Costa, H.C. (2017). Measuring local depletion of terrestrial game vertebrates by central-place hunters in rural Amazonia. PloS one, 12(10): e0186653. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186653.
The degree to which terrestrial vertebrate populations are depleted in tropical forests occupied by human communities has been the subject of an intense polarising debate that has important conservation implications. Conservation ecologists and practitioners are divided over the extent to which community-based subsistence offtake is compatible with ecologically functional populations of tropical forest game species. To quantify depletion envelopes of forest vertebrates around human communities, we deployed a total of 383 camera trap stations and 78 quantitative interviews to survey the peri-community areas controlled by 60 semi-subsistence communities over a combined area of over 3.2 million hectares in the Médio Juruá and Uatumã regions of Central-Western Brazilian Amazonia…
Campbell, E., Alfaro-Shigueto, J., Godley, B. J., Mangel, J. C., Marina, F. D. B., & Científica, U. (2017). Abundance estimate of the Amazon River dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) and the tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis) in southern Ucayali, Peru. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Research, 45(5): 957–969.
We present results of the first simultaneous visual and acoustic surveys for Amazon River dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) and tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), undertaken in Yarinacocha Lagoon, Ucayali, Peru (length = 20 km, area = 12 km2). A total of 324 Sotalia observations and 44 Inia observations were recorded in boat-based transects. Based upon total survey effort, we estimated Sotalia had a mean density ± SE of 1.98 ± 4.6 ind km-2 and an overall abundance of 34 individuals (95% CI: 28 to 40). Average density for Inia was 0.2 ± 1.2 ind km-2 with overall abundance estimated at 3 individuals (95% CI: 0 to 8)...
Hilário, R. R., Toledo, J. J., Mustin, K., Castro, I. J., Costa-Neto, S. V., Kauano, E. E., Eilers, V., Vasconcelos, I. M., Mendes-Junior, R. N., Funi, C., Fearnside, P. M., Silva, J. M. C., Euler, A. M. C., & Carvalho, W. D. (2017). The Fate of an Amazonian Savanna: Government Land-Use Planning Endangers Sustainable Development in Amapá, the Most Protected Brazilian State. Tropical Conservation Science, 10: 1-8.
Although Amapá is the most protected Brazilian state, the same level of protection does not extend to its savannas. These are currently suffering increased pressure from threats including large-scale agriculture, particularly the expansion of soybean plantations. In September 2016, the Government of Amapá presented a zoning proposal (Zoneamento Socioambiental do Cerrado [ZSC]) that reserves most of the savannas for agricultural activities. Here, we outline how the methodology employed is flawed because it does not include fauna surveys, evaluations of ecosystem services or an assessment of the social importance of the savannas.
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