Lecture 10 - hunting and wildlife trade in tropical forests Flashcards

1
Q

what is a ‘silent forest’

A

half empty forest due to hunting

  • small number of species consuming large biomass of animals
  • hunting is already higher than wildlife can sustain
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2
Q

how is density affected by accessibility

A
  • density increases the harder the accessibility - only 1.6% of the Amazon is protected and inaccessible to hunters
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3
Q

why is hunting such a threat to tropical forests

A

each km2 of tropical forest can only sustainably provide for the annual wild meat protein needs of a single person - currently hunting is exceeding this and is a major threat to large-bodied vertebrates

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4
Q

why does hunting occur?

A
  • subsistence and local trade - cheap and available to anyone that can hunt
  • cultural/traditional reasons - garments and ceremonies
  • religious (merit) release - releasing birds at temples
  • medicinal, luxury meats etc - e.g. tiger brain cures laziness
  • trophy hunting - as rarity increases so does price
  • pet trade - kill mothers
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5
Q

what are direct consequences of hunting?

A
  • faunal changes - small animals become more abundant due to less predation
  • decline in mean body mass - hunt larger animals
  • catastrophic losses of enigmatic fauna
  • extinction
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6
Q

describe what has happened to forest elephants

A

massive decline
trophy hunting for tusks/ivory
population declined by 62%
lost 30% of geographical range
population <10% of potential size and occupies <25% of potential range
china has no made carving ivory illegal and cant bring in any illegal ivory

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7
Q

describe an extinction from hunting

A
  • last Javan rhino shot in Cat tien national park

- horn worth more than its weight in gold

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8
Q

why is illegal wildlife trade so lucrative

A
  • perpetrators are well armed and organised e.g. criminal gangs with helicopters to gun down african elephant herds
  • financially worthwhile to seek out last individuals of dwindling populations
  • can drive anthropogenic allee effect - premium on rarity drives extinction
  • CITES listed = illegal to trade = cost alot more
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9
Q

what are indirect consequences

A
  • bigger seeds ingested by bigger primates = redundancy in seed dispersal for large seeds = decrease in forest size
  • wind dispersal plants are the only ones doing well in hunted sites
  • affects carbon stocking
    >70 % of trees have lower recruitment with hunting
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10
Q

what does the future of wildlife trade need to look like?

A
  • need subsistence - work with people - find them better ways to get food - cant blame people with little money and little access to food
  • trade needs to have more penalties in place
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