Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2025
08:14
Ecotoxicological Methodologies to Evaluate Biomarkers at Different Scales in Neotropical Anurans
Published on: April 28, 2023
254
Including the urbanization gradient in people-centered wildlife conservation in Amazonia
Lísley P Lemos1,2,3,4, Denis Valle5, Thaís Queiroz Morcatty2,6
1Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
Summary
Urban populations significantly consume, barter, and trade wild meat in the Amazon, challenging traditional conservation focused only on rural areas. Policies must include these urban users for effective Amazon conservation and sustainability.
Area of Science:
- Socio-ecological studies
- Conservation science
- Urban ecology
Background:
- Amazon conservation traditionally overlooks urban populations, neglecting crucial rural-urban socioecological connections.
- This oversight can impede sustainable development and effective conservation strategies in the region.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare wild meat consumption, barter, and trade across rural, peri-urban, and urban areas in the Brazilian Amazon.
- To identify social factors influencing wildlife access and use in urbanizing Amazonia.
- To inform conservation policies that integrate local populations.
Main Methods:
- Surveyed 782 households in Manaus and Carauari, Brazil, across urban, peri-urban, and rural settings.
- Collected data on wildlife consumption, barter, and commercial trade.
- Examined social factors including household structure, residence status, rural visit frequency, and market access.
Main Results:
- Widespread wildlife use was observed across all urbanization levels, with substantial consumption, barter, and trade in urban households.
- Commercial trade, particularly of chelonians, and mammal/bird barter increased with market access.
- Urban and peri-urban areas showed significant commercial wildlife trade, indicating pressure near expanding cities.
Conclusions:
- Current conservation policies need to incorporate urban and peri-urban populations due to their significant wildlife use.
- Inclusive policies regulating subsistence hunting, integrating wildlife management into community-based conservation, and involving users in development programs are essential.
- Addressing wildlife use in urbanizing Amazonia is critical for sustainable and equitable conservation outcomes.
Related Concept Videos
02:31Habitat Fragmentation
17.3K
Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.
17.3K
02:07Conservation of Declining Populations
9.5K
Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.
9.5K
02:04Conservation of Small Populations
13.0K
Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...
13.0K
01:24Biodiversity and Human Values
13.0K
Human civilization relies on biodiversity in many ways. Sudden changes in species biodiversity result in environmental changes that can modify weather patterns and therefore human civilizations.
13.0K
01:50Threats to Biodiversity
21.9K
There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species that adapted to the new conditions. In the current geological epoch, the Holocene, there is a sixth extinction event in progress. This mass extinction has been attributed to human activities and is thus provisionally called the Anthropocene. In 2019 the human population reached 7.7 billion people and is projected to comprise 10 billion by...
21.9K
02:02Ecological Niches
23.3K
All organisms have a position within an ecosystem. The complete set of living and nonliving factors—including food resources, climate, and terrain—that define the position of a given organism are collectively referred to as the organism’s ecological niche.
23.3K