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Less than six generations to save the chacoan peccary

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Abstract

The Dry Chaco has one of the highest deforestation rates of the world. The chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri; ChP) is endemic to the forests of this region and faces a high risk of extinction. However, we lack sufficient information about this species to develop effective conservation actions. This is the first study to determine the relevance of primary and secondary forest as habitat for the species and to address opportunities for conservation. We used occupancy modelling to study habitat selection. Using additional information on the species and the region, we then estimated the time left before the ChP’s habitat outside of protected areas is completely lost, and the number of ChP generations likely to exist before this happens. Finally, we identified protected areas that can sustain viable populations, and estimated the number of individuals that can survive within them. We found that the ChP occupies both primary forests and secondary forests. Also, that if deforestation rates remain consistent, the habitat for the ChP outside protected areas will have disappeared before 2051 (< 6 peccary generations). Furthermore, we found that most protected areas are too small and isolated to sustain viable populations. Our results have great management implications. Well-managed forests may allow the conservation of the ChP. Initiatives focused on forest conservation should increase, alongside the restoration of degraded and deforested areas. We also recommend the creation of new protected areas and wildlife corridors, and working horizontally with local communities.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank financial support of the Rufford Foundation, the EDGE of Existence Programme of the Zoological Society of London, the Agencia de Promoción de Ciencia y Técnica de la Argentina and el Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social de la Nación. We thank local indigenous and criollo people for their participation of this research, and the support of Red Agroforestal Chaco, Marisa Pizzi, Horacio Córdoba, Ines Quilici, Hugo Hernando Correa and Ezequiel Pintos. We also thank the information provided by Guyra Paraguay, Katia Ferraz and IUCN that although referenced, was extremely useful. We thank Paul Barnes and Claudia Grey of the Zoological Society of London for their careful reading of our manuscript, and their thoughtful and constructive comments and also, for revising our English. Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers that greatly contributed to improve our manuscript.

Funding

Our sources of funding were the Rufford Foundation (Grant No. 1 & 2), the EDGE of Existence Programme of the Zoological Society of London, the Agencia de Promoción de Ciencia y Técnica de la Argentina (Grant No. 01000100101289), and el Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social de la Nación. The authors of this manuscript have no direct financial benefits that could result from publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Proyecto Quimilero, CP 1430, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Micaela Camino, Pablo Arriaga Velasco-Aceves, Riccardo Tiddi, Sara Cortez & Mariana Altrichter

  2. EDGE of Existence – Zoological Society of London, London, UK

    Micaela Camino

  3. Guyra Paraguay, Asunción, Paraguay

    Jeffrey Thompson

  4. Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Dr. Justo Prieto N° 223 &, Tte. 1º Teófilo del Puerto, Asunción, Paraguay

    Jeffrey Thompson

  5. Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico (CeIBA), Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina

    Sebastián Cirignoli

  6. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Silvia D. Matteucci

  7. Environmental Studies Prescott College, Prescott, AZ, USA

    Mariana Altrichter

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  1. Micaela Camino
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  2. Jeffrey Thompson
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  7. Silvia D. Matteucci
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Contributions

MC: Conceived the study, Designed the study; MC, PAV-A, RT, SC: Data gathering; MC, JT, PAV-A, SC, RT: Data analysis; MC, SC, SC, SDM, MA: Interpretation of results; MC, PAV-A, SC: Manuscript draft. All authors revised the manuscript carefully and critically, and approved this version to be sent to this journal.

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Correspondence to Micaela Camino.

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Communicated by Dirk Sven Schmeller.

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Camino, M., Thompson, J., Arriaga Velasco-Aceves, P. et al. Less than six generations to save the chacoan peccary. Biodivers Conserv 31, 413–432 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02337-x

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