Don’t shoot:poachingimpact on the non-volant mammals community in a protected area in the Atlantic Forest, Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

Hunting can be considered as a cultural trait strongly rooted in the Neotropics and considered in several aspects, depending on the human community in question and the region considered. Poachingmay affect mammalian populations, and change communities, although it tends to be underestimated, due to lack of standardization and difficulties for detection. Therefore, we aimed to quantify the effect of poaching on non-volant mammal species through 5-year monitoring in the Vale Natural Reserve (VNR), northern Espírito Santo state, Brazil. We hoped that the information generated here can contribute to the increase in knowledge of the ecology of neotropical mammals by knowing how species respond to anthropic actions (i.e. poaching) as well as providing information from this group to support environmental policies and actions aimed at conserving biodiversity. This thesis was divided into three chapters. We proposed a quantitative metric assessment, which considers the spatial distribution of hunting evidence per km2 and allows monitoring the trends of this impact over time. This metric will collect the evidence of illegal hunting in a standardized way over the time. The metric can be generated by considering each poaching event separately (date, reserve where the event was recorded, location/region of the event, geographic coordinates and type of evidence collected). Any evidence of hunting can be georeferenced over time. In addition, our results provide subsidies for increasing knowledge about an illegal but still widespread and common practice. We presented here an approach to identify poaching hotspots that is cost-effective and much cheaper than years of extensive monitoring, and therefore may be applied in other protected and non-protected areas throughout the world. We recommend that researchers and Reserve managers work together to apply the approach presented here in other Reserves, whenever possible. Camera-trapping has been increasingly used throughout the world, and it is likely that the necessary information to replicate our analyses has already been obtained in many Reserves. Lastly, our results bring alarming results to one of Brazil's largest Atlantic Forest remnants. Poaching is an illegal activity constantly practiced not only in the Vale Natural Reserve but throughout the Atlantic Forest and other Neotropical regions. We presented the first study in the Atlantic Forest that has estimated the long-term poaching impact on mammalian populations, demonstrating a potential negatively effect on the density, biomass and occupancy of species that are important to ecosystem functioning. In addition to the direct negative effects estimated in this study, we draw attention to potential indirect impacts of poaching on other mammalian species, such as large felids (Panthera onca and Puma concolor). It is extremely necessary to initiate and strengthen programs for poaching mitigation in our protected areas. It is necessary to sensitize the local community by establishing a sense of belonging with the protected area. A continuing environmental education program is recommended, where actions must be worked on in different age groups of the population