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La Sustentabilidad de la Cacería de Subsistencia de Comunidades Nativas Matsigenka en el Parque Nacional Manú, Perú
Author(s) -
OHLSCHACHERER JULIA,
SHEPARD GLENN H.,
KAPLAN HILLARD,
PERES CARLOS A.,
LEVI TAAL,
YU DOUGLAS W.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00759.x
Subject(s) - national park , geography , population , overexploitation , bushmeat , biodiversity , manu , fishery , predation , ecology , population growth , socioeconomics , biology , wildlife , archaeology , demography , botany , sociology
The presence of indigenous people in tropical parks has fueled a debate over whether people in parks are conservation allies or direct threats to biodiversity. A well‐known example is the Matsigenka (or Machiguenga) population residing in Manu National Park in Peruvian Amazonia. Because the exploitation of wild meat (or bushmeat), especially large vertebrates, represents the most significant internal threat to biodiversity in Manu, we analyzed 1 year of participatory monitoring of game offtake in two Matsigenka native communities within Manu Park (102,397 consumer days and 2,089 prey items). We used the Robinson and Redford (1991) index to identify five prey species hunted at or above maximum sustainable yield within the ∼150‐km 2 core hunting zones of the two communities: woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagotricha), spider monkey (Ateles chamek), white‐lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), Razor‐billed Currasow (Mitu tuberosa), and Spix's Guan (Penelope jacquacu). There was little or no evidence that any of these five species has become depleted, other than locally, despite a near doubling of the human population since 1988. Hunter–prey profiles have not changed since 1988, and there has been little change in per capita consumption rates or mean prey weights. The current offtake by the Matsigenka appears to be sustainable, apparently due to source–sink dynamics. Source–sink dynamics imply that even with continued human population growth within a settlement, offtake for each hunted species will eventually reach an asymptote. Thus, stabilizing the Matsigenka population around existing settlements should be a primary policy goal for Manu Park.