Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Schank, Cody J.
• Cove, Michael V.
• Arima, Eugenio Y.
• Brandt, Laroy S.E.
• Brenes-Mora, Esteban
• Carver, Andrew
• Diaz-Pulido, Angelica
• Estrada, Nereyda
• Foster, Rebecca J.
• Godínez-Gómez, Oscar
• Harmsen, Bart J.
• Jordan, Christopher A.
• Keitt, Timothy H.
• Kelly, Marcella J.
• Méndez, Joel Sáenz
• Mendoza, Eduardo
• Meyer, Ninon
• Montuy, Gilberto Pozo
• Naranjo, Eduardo J.
• Nielsen, Clayton K.
• O'Farrill, Georgina
• Reyna-Hurtado, Rafael
• Rivero, Marina
• Sánchez, José Pablo Carvajal
• Singleton, Maggie
• de la Torre, J. Antonio
• Wood, Margot A.
• Young, Kenneth R.
• Miller, Jennifer A.

Titel

Population status, connectivity, and conservation action for the endangered Baird's tapir

Ist Teil von

• Biological conservation, 2020-05, Vol.245, p.108501, Article 108501

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Although many large mammals currently face significant threats that could lead to their extinction, resources for conservation are often scarce, resulting in the need to develop efficient plans to prioritize conservation actions. We combined several methods in spatial ecology to identify the distribution of the endangered Baird's tapir across its range from southern Mexico to northern Colombia. Twenty-eight habitat patches covering 23% of the study area were identified, harboring potentially 62% or more of the total population for this flagship species. Roughly half of the total area is under some form of protection, while most of the remaining habitat (~70%) occurs in indigenous/local communities. The network with maximum connectivity created from these patches contains at least one complete break (in Mexico between Selva El Ocote and Selva Lacandona) even when considering the most generous dispersal scenario. The connectivity analysis also highlighted a probable break at the Panama Canal and high habitat fragmentation in Honduras. In light of these findings, we recommend the following actions to facilitate the conservation of Baird's tapir: 1) protect existing habitat by strengthening enforcement in areas already under protection, 2) work with indigenous territories to preserve and enforce their land rights, and help local communities maintain traditional practices; 3) re-establish connections between habitat patches that will allow for connectivity across the species' distribution; 4) conduct additional noninvasive surveys in patches with little or no species data; and 5) collect more telemetry and genetic data on the species to estimate home range size, dispersal capabilities, and meta-population structure.