Abstract

MENA, José L.; LA ROSA-CAMINO, Fabiola; LOJA-ALEMAN, Juan  and  APAZA, Yessenia. THE EFFECT OF MANAGEMENT REGIMES ON MAMMAL OCCUPANCY IN A CONSERVATION CORRIDOR IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PERUVIAN AMAZON. Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2021, vol.28, n.1, pp.435-435.  Epub Dec 01, 2020. ISSN 0327-9383.

Conservation corridors are an interesting strategy considering the increasing forest conversion by agricultural areas. We used Bayesian multispecies occupancy model in order to assess the occupancy of mammal species along the Manu-Tambopata conservation corridor (4 164.06 km2), located in the southern Peruvian Amazon. We installed 102 camera traps between May and October of 2017 (8 104 camera days), in four management regimes: Río Los Amigos conservation concession, forestry concessions (ACOMAT), Tambopata National Reserve and agricultural lands. Twenty-seven species of terrestrial mammals were recorded; however, models did not reveal significant differences in species richness among management regimes, although an effect of edge density on community-level occupancy was evident. Non-significant relationships were found between commonly hunted species and management regimes, apart from the white-lipped peccary; however, short-eared dog (Atelocynus microtis) and jaguar (Panthera onca) occupancy were significantly lower on agricultural lands. Our results suggested that, in general, the management regimes and covariables (edge density and distance to roads) did not have an effect at the community level but did have species-specific effects for some species (e.g., A. microtis). MAT corridor is still a space where it is feasible to maintain healthy populations of mammals, although its long-term viability requires ensuring connectivity at both a functional and structural levels.

Keywords : Camera traps; conservation corridor; edge density; multispecies occupancy model; Peruvian Amazon.