AvH FKZ Martínez Pardo

Habitat loss and poaching are two of the main threats to biodiversity worldwide. The dry forest ecoregions of Gran Chaco and Chiquitania are global hotspots of both of these threats, which negatively affect the medium and large mammal species. This leads to changes in the composition of animal communities, potentially causing cascading effects. Unfortunately, our understanding of the relative importance of hunting and habitat loss, how both threats dynamically evolve and interact, and how effective different forms of conservation can mitigate them is weak – in the Chaco and Chiquitania regions and many other dry forests globally.

The effectiveness of the protected areas in protecting wildlife from hunting in these regions is unclear. Therefore, being able to quantify hunting and poaching levels within their boundaries is important. Acoustic recorders are devices that record sounds and could be used to register shots from firearms produced by hunters at a high detection range, allowing large and inaccessible areas to be surveyed. The recordings are analysed using algorithms that automatically detect gunshot sounds, generating information on gunshot frequency per sampling site, which can be used as an indicator of hunting and poaching activities. Through this, it would be possible to quantify hunting and poaching activity in the Chaco and Chiquitania, but no study so far has done this. In this project, I will use a large database that is already being gathered by the Conservation Biogeography group, including systematic surveys with camera traps for larger mammals and acoustic recorders in the Argentinian and Bolivian Chaco, and Chiquitania region. Together, this will allow us to assess the effectiveness of different types of protected areas and compare results between countries, provinces and ecoregions to understand the relevance of the policies and protected area management.

In addition to understanding how effective current protected areas are, is necessary to identify areas where additional protected areas could be established, as both regions have low coverage of reserves. Modelling the spatial distribution of wildlife as well as the main threats they face is essential for that purpose. In this project, I will use the gunshot frequency data combined with occupancy models to generate new indicators of poaching pressure in relation to human features (rural houses, land use, etc.). This will result in a deeper understanding of the variables affecting poaching, as well as detailed hunting maps. This will allow to understand where and how hunting threatens large mammals, and thus to map the defaunation level in the Chaco and Chiquitania regions. Moreover, these data will allow to identify where and which forms of protected areas are (a) most needed to protect remaining wildlife and (b) potentially most effective for lowering hunting pressure. To analyse these questions, I will use spatial prioritisation tools (e.g. Zonation).