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We used 2 years of camera-trap surveys conducted by citizen scientists to compare native mammal and bird visits to dominant fruiting-tree species in low and high cattle-impact areas of rarely-flooded “cordilheira” forests in the Brazilian Pantanal. Monthly fruit censuses showed greater diversity of fruiting-tree species in low cattle-impact areas. Citizen scientists documented 29 native mammal and bird species among 5639 photo records obtained at fruiting trees. Analyses of 3 sets of camera-trap samples comprising: (1) only Attalea phalerata palms, (2) all ten dominant fruiting-tree species, and (3) all except a species with a highly-valued fruit and an unusual distribution, showed that faunal composition in low cattle-impact areas was significantly different and more diverse compared to that in high cattle-impact areas. Long-term cattle-related alterations of forest vegetation and short-term fruit depletion and interference by cattle explained faunal differences. While 5 frugivores and 1 carnivore were consistent indicators of low cattle-impact conditions, the value of 2 other frugivores (Tayassu pecari and Crax fasciolata) as indicators of cattle impact varied depending on fruit-species nutritive value, timing, and distribution. Improved cattle management is needed to prevent additional loss of forest biodiversity.

Preserving large tracts of natural habitats is essential to maintain biodiversity. Nevertheless, even large areas may still suffer from less “visible” impacts such as loss of ecological processes. Because mapping ecological processes over large scales is not practical, an alternative is to map surrogate species that are key for those processes. In this study, we chose four species of Neotropical large mammals (the largest apex predator: jaguar – Panthera onca ; the largest herbivore: tapir – Tapirus terrestris ; the largest seed predator: white-lipped peccary – Tayassu pecari ; and the largest arboreal seed disperser: muriqui – Brachyteles spp.) in an ecosystem with an old history of human impact (the Atlantic Forest) to test whether areas with native forest still harbor ecological processes that may guarantee long-term ecosystem maintenance. We gathered 94 locations with recent presence of the four species to map current ranges and model suitable areas. Our results reveal that 96% of the remaining Atlantic Forest is depleted of at least one of the four surrogate species and 88% is completely depleted of all four surrogate species. We also found that only 16% is still environmentally suitable for all four, and 55% is completely unsuitable to all four of them. Our study highlights the importance of looking beyond land cover to fully depict intactness of natural areas, and suggests that ecosystems with a long history of human impact (such as the Atlantic Forest) may be suffering from ecological impacts not seen at a first glance.

We present the first long-term radio telemetry study of area use by white-lipped and collared peccaries in a tropical forest fragment. Population densities of both species in a 2178-ha fragment of semideciduous Atlantic forest in southeastern Brazil were similar to estimates from another regional fragment with 16 times the area. The population of 150 (� 52) white-lipped peccaries was divided among 3–4 subherds. We observed a high frequency of switching of individuals among subherds and documented periodic subherd fusion. Seven to 22 collared peccary herds (mean herd size, 9) persisted in the main forest fragment. Average home range size for the white-lipped peccaries was 1871 ha (90% HM). This was similar to the few reliable estimates available from continuous tropical forests. Despite supposed area restrictions, white-lipped peccaries maintained distinct seasonal ranges with a minimum of overlap. Within seasons, subherds overlapped spatially, but were separated temporally. Average home range sizes of two radiotracked collared peccary herds were 305 and 123 ha. Home range boundaries and seasonal ranges of collared peccary herds shifted minimally, and herd subgrouping was short-lived. Spatial overlap between the two peccary species varied seasonally with whitelipped herd movements. We discuss future research needs and management actions for conservation of these species in fragmented landscapes.

The conservation of remnant populations of white-lipped peccaries in Central America depends on adequate documentation of their habitat needs and behavior. Thus, we monitored the activity patterns, local distributions, and home ranges of 36 (25F:11M) radio-marked white-lipped peccaries, all members of a single ‘‘super’’ herd, in part of Corcovado National Park, their largest stronghold in Costa Rica, during 1996–1998. Peccaries were diurnal all year with a period of reduced activity during the middle of the day. They were found more often than expected (vs. random use) in primary forest during February to May, in secondary and coastal forest during June to September, and in herbaceous swamp during October to January, corresponding to relative fruit abundance. Overall, the peccary herd ranged over an area of

Six Atlantic forest reserves, two large (c. 20,000 ha each), two medium-sized (c. 2,000 ha each) and two small (c. 200 ha each), located in northern Espirito Santo, south-eastern Brazil were censused for mammals from October 1994 to April 1996. Diurnal and nocturnal line-transect sampling was used for censusing mammals>1 kg body weight, and the relative abundance of species in the six fragments was compared. The number of mammal species recorded in the reserves was strongly related to the forest area, the richest community being recorded in the two large reserves and the poorest in the two small reserves. The large reserves had a structurally more complex community, with top predators, large, terrestrial frugivores and large myrmecophages. The mammal community of the small and the medium-sized reserves was impoverished and less complex. Frugivores were numerically predominant in both large and medium-sized reserves, whereas herbivores dominated the mammal community of the small reserves, mainly through the absence of agoutis Dasyprocta leporina and the high density of maned sloth Bradypus torquatus in the two small reserves. The lack of predators and the proliferation of secondary vegetation and lianas throughout the small reserves are probably the main causes for the success of arboreal folivores there. Illegal hunting was found to reduce the encounter rates of mostly large, terrestrial frugivores such as agoutis, pacas Agouti paca, peccaries Pecari tajacu and Tayassu pecari and deer Mazama spp., and is contributing to keep the population of the surviving species low.

Data on the local abundance and residency status are presented for two of the most important game species of terrestrial vertebrates in neotropical forests, the white-lipped peccary Tayassu pecari and collared peccary Tayassu tajacu. These data are based on a long-term series (1987–1994) of line-transect censuses conducted at forest sites in central-western and eastern Brazilian Amazonia using transects of 4–5 km at each site. Surveys were conducted in four unhunted sites and 19 sites subject to varying degrees of hunting. Censued sites consisted of different types of unflooded (terra firme) and flooded (varzea) forest, giving a combined census distance of 2368 km. Evidence of the larger-bodied white-lipped peccary was detected at only 13 of the 23 sites surveyed, even though these forests had not been subject to habitat disturbance. Collared peccaries, on the other hand, persisted even in the most heavily hunted sites, though the numbers recorded were inversely related to hunting intensity. The large herds of white-lipped peccaries appear to be rare and move widely even in remote terra firme forests, even those which have been entirely spared of hunting, perhaps because of low density of key resource patches. In contrast, the ubiquitous collared peccaries live in small herds and appear to be year-round residents in presumably much smaller home ranges at both hunted and unhunted sites. The implications of peccary residency status and herd size are discussed in the context of differential susceptibility to hunting.