|
|
Guterres-Pazin, Michelle Gil; Marmontel, Miriam; Rosas, Fernando César Weber; Pazin, Victor F. V.; Venticinque, Eduardo M.
(detail)
|
| |
|
2014 |
Feeding ecology of the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) in the Mamirauá and Amanã Sustainable Development Reserves, Brazil.
Aquatic Mammals 40(2): 139-149. 3 tabs. 4 figs. doi:10.1578/AM.40.2.2014.139
–ABSTRACT: The Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis) is an exclusively herbivorous freshwater mammal. Between 1994 and 2008, 230 fecal and 16 stomach content samples from wild Amazonian manatees were obtained. The material was collected during both dry and wet seasons in the sustainable development reserves of Mamirauá (MSDR) and Amanã (ASDR) from floodplain and terra firme and igapó (not subject to long-term flooding) habitats, respectively. Species constituting the diet of the Amazonian manatee were identified through a comparative analysis with a reference collection of epidermis from 69 plant species of potential consumption by the species. Forty-nine plant species were identified in the species' diet. In the MSDR, 32 plant species were found -- 18 during the dry season and 28 during the wet season. In the ASDR, 48 species were identified of which 40 occurred in both periods. A total of 30 new species were added to the Amazonian manatee diet known to date. The species that were found most frequently in the material were Hymenachne amplexicaulis, Oryza grandiglumis, Paspalum repens, Azolla caroliniana, and Limnobium spongia. Poaceae was the family with the greatest frequency of occurrence (91.5%). Plant species most consumed present emergent or floating habits. There was a difference in the composition of plant species found in manatee feces between the dry and wet seasons (p = 0.0002) but not between floodplain and igapó. Results show that the Amazonian manatee feeds on a great variety of plant species during the wet and dry season alike, and both in floodplain and igapó environments. Therefore, food availability alone does not represent a determining factor to explain the seasonal migration of the species.
|
|
|
Antunes, André P.; Fewster, Rachel M.; Venticinque, Eduardo M.; Peres, Carlos A.; Levi, Taal; Rohe, Fabio; Shepard, Glenn H., Jr.
(detail)
|
| |
|
2016 |
Empty forest or empty rivers? A century of commercial hunting in Amazonia.
Science Advances (Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci.) 2(10): e1600936 (14 pp.). 1 tab. 5 figs. + suppl. material. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600936. Oct. 12, 2016.
–ABSTRACT: The Amazon basin is the largest and most species-rich tropical forest and river system in the world, playing a pivotalrole in global climate regulation and harboring hundreds of traditional and indigenous cultures. It is a matter of intense debate whether the ecosystem is threatened by hunting practices, whereby an "empty forest" loses critical ecological functions. Strikingly, no previous study has examined Amazonian ecosystem resilience through the perspective of the massive 20th century international trade in furs and skins. We present the first historical account of the scale and impacts of this trade and show that whereas aquatic species suffered basin-wide population collapse, terrestrial species did not. We link this differential resilience to the persistence of adequate spatial refuges for terrestrial species, enabling populations to be sustained through source-sink dynamics, contrasting with unremitting hunting pressure on more accessible aquatic habitats. Our findings attest the high vulnerability of aquatic fauna to unregulated hunting, particularly during years of severe drought. We propose that the relative resilience of terrestrial species suggests a marked opportunity for managing, rather than criminalizing, contemporary traditional subsistence hunting in Amazonia, through both the engagement of local people in community-based co-management programs and science-led conservation governance.
-Estimates that between 92,658 and 138,583 Amazonian manatees were killed between 1904 and 1969.
|
|
Bibliography and Index of the Sirenia and Desmostylia 