Does ecoturism activity affect primates in Mamirauá Reserve?

Mamiraua Institute’s Uakari Lodge maintains an ecotourism program, which includes monitoring primates on trails, with a view to evaluating the effects of ecotourism on these animals. The aim of this study was to assess if primate density is affected by ecotourism. Two trails of minimum use (low tourist visitation frequency) and two of intense use (high tourist visitation frequency) were covered using the line transect method. The monitored species were Alouatta juara , Sapajus macrocephalus , Saimiri vanzolinii and Cacajao calvus calvus,/i>. The data was analyzed using the software DISTANCE 6.0. The density variation was analyzed over the years by simple linear regression. The density between the categories was compared using the t-test. This verified a significant difference in the densities of A. juara (t = -5.318 DF = 6, p = 0.0017) and S. macrocephalus (t = -4.601, DF = 6, p = 0.0036) on the trail of intense use, which may be related to increased animal habituation to human presence, as a result of ecotourism.