Bushmeat

Abstract: 1. Hunting for the Snark, by Elizabeth L. Bennett and John G. RobinsonI: Biological Limits to Sustainability2. Carrying Capacity Limits to Sustainable Hunting in Tropical Forests, by John G. Robinson and Elizabeth L. Bennett3. Evaluating the Impact and Sustainability of Subsistence Hunting at Multiple Amazonian Forest Sites, by Carlos A. Peres4. The Sustainability of Current Hunting Practices by the Huaorani, by Patricio Mena V., Jody R. Stallings, Jhanira Regalado B. and Ruben Cueva L.5. Sustainability of Ach Hunting in the Mbaracayu Reserve, Paraguay, by Kim Hill and Jonathan Pad6. Impact of Sustainability of Indigenous Hunting in the Ituri Forest, Congo-Zaire: A Comparison of Unhunted and Hunted Duiker Populations, by John A. Har7. Threatened Mammals, Subsistence Harvesting, and High Human Population Densities: A Recipe for Disaster?, by Clare D. FitzGibbon, Hezron Mogaka, and John H. Fanshawe8. Hunted Animals in Bioko Island, West Africa: Sustainability and Future, by John E. Fa9. Differential Vulnerability of Large Birds and Mammals to Hunting in North Sulawesi, by Timothy G. O'Brien and Margaret F. Ki10. The Impact of Traditional Subsistence Hunting and Trapping on Prey Populations: Data from Wana Horticulturalists of Upland Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, by Michael AlvardII: Sociocultural Context Influencing Sustainability11. A Pound of Flesh: Social Change and Modernization as Factors in Hunting Sustainability Among Neootropical Indigenous Societie, by Allyn MacLean Stearman12. Wildlife Conservation and Game Harvest by Maya Hunters in Quintana Roo, Mexico, by Jeffrey P. Jorgenson13. The Sustainability of Subsistence Hunting by the Sirion Indians of Bolivia, by Wendy R. Townsend14. Cable Snares and Nets in the Central African Republic, by Andrew Noss15. Saving Borneo's Bacon: The Sustainability of Hunting in Sarawak and Sabah, by Elizabeth L. Bennett, Adrian J. Nyaoi, and Jephte Sompud16. Agta Hunting and Sustainability of Resource Use in Northeastern Luzon, Philippines, by P. Bion Griffin and Marcus B. GriffinIII: Institutional Capacity for Management17. Hunting for an Answer: Is Local Hunting Compatible with Large Mammal Conservation in India?, by M. D. Madhusudan and K. Ullas Karanth18. Enhancing the Sustainability of Duiker Hunting Through Community Participation and Controlled Access in the Lob k Region of Southeastern Cameroon, by Cheryl Fimbel, Bryan Curran, and Leonard Usongo19. Traditional Management of Hunting in a Xavante Community in Central Brazil: The Search for Sustainability, by Frans J. Leeuwenberg and John G. Robinson20. Community-Based Comanagement of Wildlife in the Peruvian Amazon, by Richard Bodmer and Pablo E. PuertasIV: Economic Influences on Sustainability21. Wildlife Use in Northern Congo: Hunting in a Commercial Logging Concession, by Philippe, Auzel and David S. Wilkie22. Socioeconomics and the Sustainability of Hunting in the Forests of Northern Congo (Brazzaville), by Heather E. Eves and Richard G. Ruggiero23. Impact of Subsistence Hunting in North Sulawesi Indonesia, and Conservation Options,, by Rob J. Lee24. The Trade in Wildlife in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, by Lynn Clayton and E. J. Milner-GullandV: Synthesis25. Hunting for Sustainability: The Start of a Synthesis, by Elizabeth L. Bennett and John G. Robinson

Abstract: Massive overhunting of wildlife for meat across the humid tropics is now causing local extinctions of numerous species. Rural people often rely heavily on wild meat, but, in many areas, this important source of food and income is either already lost or is being rapidly depleted. The problem can only be tackled by looking at the wider economic and institutional context within which such hunting occurs, from household economics to global terms of trade. Conservation efforts must be placed within a landscape context; a mosaic of hunted and no-take areas might balance conservation with continued subsistence use. Successful conservation of hunted wildlife requires collaboration at all scales, involving local people, resource extraction companies, governments and scientists.

Abstract: The multibillion-dollar trade in bushmeat is among the most immediate threats to the persistence of tropical vertebrates, but our understanding of its underlying drivers and effects on human welfare is limited by a lack of empirical data. We used 30 years of data from Ghana to link mammal declines to the bushmeat trade and to spatial and temporal changes in the availability of fish. We show that years of poor fish supply coincided with increased hunting in nature reserves and sharp declines in biomass of 41 wildlife species. Local market data provide evidence of a direct link between fish supply and subsequent bushmeat demand in villages and show bushmeat's role as a dietary staple in the region. Our results emphasize the urgent need to develop cheap protein alternatives to bushmeat and to improve fisheries management by foreign and domestic fleets to avert extinctions of tropical wildlife.

Abstract: Subsistence hunting affects vast tracts of tropical wilderness that otherwise remain structurally unal- tered, yet distinguishing hunted from nonhunted tropical forests presents a difficult problem because this diffuse form of resource extraction leaves few visible signs of its occurrence. I used a standardized series of line-transect censuses conducted over a 10-year period to examine the effects of subsistence game harvest on the structure of vertebrate communities in 25 Amazonian forest sites subjected to varying levels of hunting pressure. Crude verte- brate biomass, which was highly correlated with hunting pressure, gradually declined from nearly 1200 kg km 2 2 at nonhunted sites to less than 200 kg km 2 2 at heavily hunted sites. Hunting had a negative effect on the total biomass and relative abundance of vertebrate species in different size classes at these forest sites, but it did not af- fect their overall density. In particular, persistent hunting markedly reduced the density of large-bodied game spe- cies ( . 5 kg), which contributed a large proportion of the overall community biomass at nonhunted sites (65- 78%) and lightly hunted sites (55-71%). Nutrient-rich floodplain forests contained a consistently greater game biomass than nutrient-poor unflooded forests, once I controlled for the effects of hunting pressure. Conservative estimates of game yields indicate that as many as 23.5 million game vertebrates, equivalent to 89,224 tons of bushmeat with a market value of US$190.7 million, are consumed each year by the rural population of Brazil- ian Amazonia, which illustrates the enormous socioeconomic value of game resources in the region. My cross- site comparison documents the staggering effect of subsistence hunters on tropical forest vertebrate communities and highlights the importance of considering forest types and forest productivity in game management pro- grams.