Shifting cultivation and hunting across the savanna-forest mosaic in the Gran Sabana, Venezuela: facing changes

Izabela Stachowicz; José R Ferrer-Paris; Ada Sanchez-Mercado

doi:10.7717/peerj.11612

Shifting cultivation and hunting across the savanna-forest mosaic in the Gran Sabana, Venezuela: facing changes

PeerJ. 2021 Jun 17:9:e11612. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11612. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Izabela Stachowicz^{1

2}, José R Ferrer-Paris^{3

4}, Ada Sanchez-Mercado^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biodiversity Studies and Bioeducation, University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland.
² Laboratorio de Biología de Organismos, Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela.
³ Laboratorio de Ecología Espacial, Centro de Estudios Botánicos y Agroforestales, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
⁴ School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, NSW, Kensington, Australia.
⁵ Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Espíritu Santo, Guayaquil, Samborondón 092301, Ecuador.

Abstract

Background: Human encroachment and overexploitation of natural resources in the Neotropics is constantly increasing. Indigenous communities all across the Amazon, are trapped between a population rise and a hot debate about the sustainability of hunting rates. The Garden Hunting hypothesis states that shifting cultivation schemes (conucos) used by Amazon indigenous communities may generate favorable conditions, increasing abundance of small and medium wildlife species close to the 'gardens' providing game for indigenous hunters.

Methods: Here, we combined camera trap surveys and spatially explicit interview dataset on Pemón indigenous hunting scope and occurrence in a mosaic of savanna and forest in the Gran Sabana, Venezuela to evaluate to what extent the wildlife resource use corresponds to Garden Hunting hypothesis. We applied the Royle-Nichols model and binomial regression in order to: (1) assess whether abundance of small and medium wildlife species is higher close to conucos and (2) evaluate whether hunters select hunting localities based on accessibility to wildlife resources (closeness to conuco) more than wildlife abundance.

Results: We find mixed evidence supporting the Garden Hunting hypothesis predictions. Abundance of small and medium species was high close to conucos but the pattern was not statistically significant for most of them. Pemón seem to hunt in locations dominated by forest, where species abundance was predicted to be higher, than in close vicinity to conucos. Hunting scope was focused on the most abundant species located close to the conuco (Cuniculus paca), but also in less abundant and unavailable species (Crax alector, Tapirus terrestris and Odocoileus virginianus).

Conclusions: Our research provided the first attempt of a systematic sampling survey in the Gran Sabana, generating a quantitative dataset that not only describes the current pattern of wildlife abundance, but sets the base-line to monitor temporal and spatial change in this region of highland Amazon. We discuss the applicability of the estimates generated as a baseline as well as, environmental challenges imposed by economic, social and cultural changes such as mining encroachment for wildlife management.

Keywords: Camera traps; Canaima National Park; Conuco; Garden hunting hypothesis; Guiana Shield; Highland Amazon; Indigenous communities; Pemón.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Idea Wild foundation and Finca Dos Aguas from Venezuela. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.