RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF A GEOGRAPHICALLY ISOLATED POPULATION OF RED-RUMPED AGOUTI (Dasyprocta leporina): A FIRST ASSESSMENT FOR TRINIDAD.

Many studies have demonstrated the importance of terrestrial mammal fauna to ecosystem functioning and services. To date, however, few studies of mammal abundance in Trinidad and Tobago have been conducted. Our main objective here was to compare the relative abundance (RA) of agoutis (Dasyprocta leporina), an important bushmeat species, in a lowland, multi-use recreational forest surrounded by urbanization, with a former plantation that is now a protected nature reserve containing upland secondary forest. We hypothesized that coarse-scale factors such as hunting, elevation, proximity to paved roads, and vegetation density, would affect the relative abundance of these two agouti populations. As part of the first pilot survey of the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) on Trinidad, using the same camera setup, we deployed paired camera-trap stations at 10 sites in the recreational forest, and five sites in the smaller nature reserve, along a 1 km2 grid of each study site's trail system between 24 June and 6 November 2016. To test the relative importance of these key ecological factors on agouti relative abundance, we conducted simple linear regressions of each covariate. We found that hunting was significantly associated with lower relative abundance of agouti (p<0.05), whereas increases in elevation had a significant positive effect on relative abundance of agouti (p<0.05). Interestingly, we also found a significant inverse relationship between agouti abundance and the proximity to paved roads (p<0.05), i.e., agouti's relative abundance was greater at shorter distances or closer to paved roads. We also found no relationship between vegetation density and agouti relative abundance (p>0.05). We concluded that hunting, elevation, and proximity to paved roads, all significantly impact the relative abundance index (RAI) of local agouti populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]