Spatiotemporal variation in hunting in a riverine indigenous community in the Amazon

Hunting is a critical source of food security and income for millions of people across the Amazon Basin, but unsustainable hunting is one of the leading causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. Models on the sustainability of hunting often use a spatial estimate of hunting pressure which radiates constantly from a central location. We used participatory mapping and interview techniques with hunters and a generalized linear modeling approach to determine how the spread of hunting pressure varies spatially and through time, and how harvests changed accordingly, in a riverine indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon. Model results showed significant variation in the spatial spread of hunting pressure seasonally, where the upper regions of the river basin were predicted to be relatively inaccessible during the dry season. Significant covariates included landscape characteristics such as distance from major rivers and presence of major trails and seasonal streams, as well as monthly rainfall and month of the year among others. Catch also varied by month, and spatially reflected the spread of monthly hunting pressure. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) was significantly related to rainfall (estimate = - 0.0036, SE = 0.00061, p < 0.001), and monthly patterns in CPUE matched those of game meat sales. Seasonally changing environmental characteristics like rainfall and water level likely influence the species and zones that hunters have access to and may influence the sustainability of hunting of some species as areas they inhabit become inaccessible during the dry season.

Automated summary

Research shows that the spatial distribution and temporal changes of hunting pressure in the Peruvian Amazon are related to harvests, and environmental factors such as monthly rainfall and month of the year may influence the sustainability of hunting.