PARENT SESSION
Oral Session 17: Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
Presiding: E Sulzman
Monday, August 2, 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM, Meeting Room F 151.

Indigenous land use and hunting sustainability in a Central American rain forest.

Camilo, Gerardo^*,, Gros, Paule, AsaSa, Cheryl,

ABSTRACT- Inventories and population estimates conducted in BOSAWAS Biosphere Reserve, Nicaragua, established the importance of this area for the conservation of large and medium-sized mammals, including the Baird's Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) and the Central American Spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyii). BOSAWAS is possibly the last refuge for the Giant Anteater (Myrmacophaga tridactilus) in Central America, and may contain a viable population of jaguars (Panthera onca). Is the increased biodiversity levels related to the spatially explicit land use pattern in the reserve? In BOSAWAS crops are grown in designated agricultural areas close to indigenous villages. Hunting and gathering occur both in the agricultural area and farther in designated hunting areas. Hunting is occasional in a most remote conservation area. Mammals used all land use areas. Relative density, expressed by the number of track sets per kilometer, was lower in the agricultural area only for jaguars. A possible measure of mammal activity, the number of tracks per track set, increased with increasing human activity for the medium-sized most hunted species. Species of greater conservation concern showed the opposite relationship. Light hunting and spatial separation of human activities might contribute to maintaining high diversity of large and medium-sized mammals in this, the largest reserve in Cenral America.

Key words: hunting, sustainability, Nicaragua