| Title: | Dispersal limitation induces long-term biomass collapse in overhunted Amazonian forests |
| Author(s): | Peres CA; Emilio T; Schietti J; Desmouliere SJ; Levi T; |
| Address: | "Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom; c.peres@uea.ac.uk. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil; Fiocruz Amazonia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil; Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1091-6490 (Electronic) 0027-8424 (Print) 0027-8424 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Tropical forests are the global cornerstone of biological diversity, and store 55% of the forest carbon stock globally, yet sustained provisioning of these forest ecosystem services may be threatened by hunting-induced extinctions of plant-animal mutualisms that maintain long-term forest dynamics. Large-bodied Atelinae primates and tapirs in particular offer nonredundant seed-dispersal services for many large-seeded Neotropical tree species, which on average have higher wood density than smaller-seeded and wind-dispersed trees. We used field data and models to project the spatial impact of hunting on large primates by approximately 1 million rural households throughout the Brazilian Amazon. We then used a unique baseline dataset on 2,345 1-ha tree plots arrayed across the Brazilian Amazon to model changes in aboveground forest biomass under different scenarios of hunting-induced large-bodied frugivore extirpation. We project that defaunation of the most harvest-sensitive species will lead to losses in aboveground biomass of between 2.5-5.8% on average, with some losses as high as 26.5-37.8%. These findings highlight an urgent need to manage the sustainability of game hunting in both protected and unprotected tropical forests, and place full biodiversity integrity, including populations of large frugivorous vertebrates, firmly in the agenda of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) programs" |
| Keywords: | Animal Distribution Animals Biodiversity *Biomass Brazil Carbon Cycle Carnivory Conservation of Natural Resources *Ecosystem Endangered Species *Forests Fruit Herbivory *Human Activities Humans Plant Dispersal Platyrrhini Predatory Behavior *Seed Dispersa; |
| Notes: | "MedlinePeres, Carlos A Emilio, Thaise Schietti, Juliana Desmouliere, Sylvain J M Levi, Taal eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2016/01/27 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Jan 26; 113(4):892-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1516525113" |
