Including Spatial Heterogeneity and Animal Dispersal When Evaluating Hunting: a Model Analysis and an Empirical Assessment in an Amazonian Community |
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Authors: | ANDERS SIRÉ N,PETER HAMBÄ CK&dagger , JOSÉ MACHOA&Dagger |
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Affiliation: | Department of Rural Development Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7005, SE-750 07 Uppsala,Sweden, email;Department of Ecology and Crop Production Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7043,SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden, and Department of Botany, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden;Tayak Yuyayta Jatachik Sarayaku Runaguna Tandanakuy, Apartment 16–01–841, Puyo, Pastaza, Ecuador |
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Abstract: | Abstract: 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. |
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Keywords: | Amazonia hunting effort no-take areas spatially explicit harvest model sustainable harvesting |
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