Polling the Public to Select Flagship Species for Tourism and Conservation—A ‘Big Five’ for the Peruvian Amazon?
0
Citation
51
Reference
10
Related Paper
Abstract:
ABSTRACT Flagship species are used to promote conservation and tourism. Africa's famous ‘ Big five ’ have become marketing flagships that fundraisers and tourism promoters emulate globally. Species can be selected systematically for marketing using characteristics such as colour, size or behaviour, but this approach can overlook unique animals or homogenise selections. Alternatively, polling the public can reveal existing preferences for animals directly. We used questionnaires with tourists in the Peruvian Amazon to identify existing biases for species and rank them for suitability for tourism and conservation marketing. Polling revealed several species that would not be considered good flagship candidates using systematic methods based on species characteristics. ‘Free listing’ tourists expressed preferences at inconsistent taxonomic levels. The response ‘monkeys’ (infraorder Simiiformes) was highest ranked, followed by ‘jaguar’ ( Panthera onca ), ‘Amazon dolphin’ ( Inia geoffrensis ), ‘sloths’ (suborder Folivora), and ‘caiman’ (subfamily Caimaninae) and ‘birds’ (class Aves). When ranking from a preselected shortlist, jaguar, Amazon dolphins and sloths (represented by Bradypus variegatus ) remained popular, while vote splitting within higher taxonomic levels, in particular monkeys, made room for green‐winged macaw ( Ara chloropterus ) and anaconda ( Eunectes murinus ). When asked about their willingness to pay for excursions or donate to conservation, tourists were overwhelmingly more likely to quote larger figures for jaguars than any other species, but results for other species were more homogenous. Some popular taxonomic groups are diverse in Amazonia; up to 14 monkey species may be present at some sites Amazonia, alongside several hundred bird species. A Big five strategy obscures this diversity. Using physical characteristics as selection criteria underplays diversity and overlooks popular taxa—notably sloths for the Amazon. A strategy of polling the public to select popular species as flagships more directly identifies salient species for marketing and efficiently considers existing biases. However, diversity will trump a Big five approach in megadiverse areas.Keywords:
Flagship Species
Jaguar
Subspecies
Belize has emerged as an international leader in jaguar conservation through the creation of numerous protected areas that contain prime cat habitat and by strengthening conservation laws. For example, in 1984, Belize created the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve, the first special jaguar protection area in the Americas. In 1995, the government expanded Cockscomb by creating the adjacent Chiquibul National Park. In 2010, the government continued this commitment to jaguar conservation by creating the Labouring Creek Jaguar Corridor Wildlife Sanctuary in central Belize. As a result of these protected areas, Belize has been rightfully lauded as a leader in nature-based tourism and protected areas creation in Central America. However, outside national parks and communities that directly benefit from ecotourism, it is less clear how supportive rural residents are of cat conservation. It is also not clear if jaguars persist outside protected areas in locations such as southern Belize, where the environment has been significantly altered by human activities. Through interviews with Mayan hunters, this paper investigates the attitudes towards jaguars, human-jaguar conflicts, and potential community-based jaguar conservation in two Mayan villages in the Toledo District in southern Belize. Also, using indirect methods, the paper documents the presence/absence and other temporal/spatial aspects of jaguars in a heavily altered landscape in southern Belize.
Jaguar
Human–wildlife conflict
Flagship Species
Poaching
Cite
Citations (11)
Abstract More than 75% of endangered species in the United States rely on private lands for habitat. Although this habitat has long been regulated under the Endangered Species Act, there is now broad agreement that economic incentives are also needed for effective protection on private land. Many different mechanisms for incentive programs have been proposed and tested. For example, recovery credit systems use term‐duration market‐based contracts to engage landowners in endangered species conservation. We examined how market‐mechanism design influences interest in endangered species habitat conservation using a survey of North Carolina Farm Bureau county advisory board members in 93 of the 100 North Carolina counties ( n = 735) in 2009. Respondents preferred contracts (57% were interested) over easements (39% were interested). Endangered species conservation ranked low in importance relative to other conservation issues, but 45% of respondents were interested in contracts to conserve endangered species habitat on their property. The preferred contract duration was 10 years, and respondents preferred state‐ and agricultural‐related organizations over federal and wildlife conservation‐related organizations for managing contracts. Younger respondents, respondents who had previously participated in conservation programs, respondents who perceived endangered species conservation as important, and respondents who had lower property‐rights orientation scores, were most likely to be interested in contracts to restore and maintain endangered species habitat on their lands. Our results suggest that market mechanisms could drive down costs and drive up durations for endangered species habitat conservation contracts. Further, term contracts may prove critical for endangered species conservation efforts that require high levels of landowner support and spatial flexibility within relatively short‐time frames. © 2012 The Wildlife Society.
Habitat conservation
Easement
Critical habitat
Flagship Species
Cite
Citations (21)
Abstract The fragmentation of jaguar Panthera onca populations as a result of habitat loss is considered to be one of the main challenges for the conservation of the species. Corridors have been proposed as a means of maintaining connectivity and the long-term viability of jaguar populations. The corridor that connects the jaguar conservation units of Calakmul and Laguna de Terminos in Mexico has been considered to be a link for the movement of individuals between these units but its functionality had yet to be verified. During 2012–2014 we divided the corridor into four sections, where we used camera traps to verify the corridor's functionality. We obtained 106 photographs of jaguars, proving the presence of jaguars (including resident jaguars and females) in three of the corridor sections. We did not record any individuals in more than one section of the corridor. The presence of several resident jaguars and females throughout the corridor suggests that portions of the corridor should be incorporated into the Calakmul and Laguna de Terminos jaguar conservation units. Nevertheless, to confirm that the corridor is fully functional it is necessary to obtain evidence of movement of jaguars among the various sections of the corridor. Our results suggest that the area should be included in regional conservation strategies.
Jaguar
Flagship Species
Cite
Citations (12)
Jaguars are endangered in Mexico and the United States, necessitating careful monitoring of population status. We determined minimum numbers of jaguars and sympatric pumas in a small population in northern Sonora, Mexico, the nearest known breeding population to the United States, by photographic captures supplemented by idiosyncratic features of tracks from track surveys (1999-2005). We also developed a discriminant function to differentiate species (jaguar v. puma) and sexes within species, which also aided in individual identification. Photographic captures identified 5 individual jaguars; this estimate was increased to 12 using idiosyncratic features and discriminant analysis of tracks.Jaguar kittens were only detected by track surveys. All jaguars identified by photographs were previously detected by tracks, but most (7 of 12) known from tracks were not captured in photographs. Jaguar presence was fluid; we identified 6 individual jaguars from 1999-2003, but only 3 of these were still present in 2004. We documented 4 new individuals during 2005, when none of the previously identified jaguars were detected. Similarly, we identified 14 individual pumas by tracks, but only 11 of these were captured in photographs. Four hindfoot measurements varied among species and sexes of jaguars and pumas, and these measurements were able to correctly classify 85-97% of tracks to the correct species and sex. Due to the high turnover of this jaguar population, which is at its fringe of the jaguar range in North America, we recommend constant monitoring of population status with camera traps and track surveys. If only limited resources are available, we recommend monitoring only with track surveys because they detected a greater number of individuals and all age classes of individuals.
Jaguar
Camera trap
Flagship Species
Cite
Citations (25)
The range-wide management of the jaguar (Panthera onca) depends upon maintaining core populations connected through multi-national, transboundary cooperation, which is dependent upon understanding the movement ecology and space use of jaguars throughout their range. Using 117 telemetry trajectories from 12 ecoregions, we examined the landscape-level environmental and anthropogenic factors related to jaguar home range size and movement parameters. Range-wide and at the ecoregional scale home range size decreased with increasing net productivity and increased with increasing road density. Also, range-wide, home range size decreased with increasing forest cover and decreasing human population density. Movement within home ranges was best explained by a different set of environmental covariates. Range-wide predictions of home range size were consistent with expectations based upon density estimates. Our findings provide a mechanism to evaluate range-wide habitat quality for jaguars and an inferential modeling framework that can be adapted to the conservation of other large terrestrial carnivores.
Jaguar
Flagship Species
Home range
Cite
Citations (1)
More than 170 subspecies are listed as threatened or endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. Most of these subspecies were described decades ago on the basis of geographical variation in morphology using relatively primitive taxonomic methods. The US Fish and Wildlife Service defaults to subspecies descriptions by taxonomists working with specific groups of organisms, but there is no single definition of subspecies across plants and animals. Valid tests today usually entail molecular analyses of variation within and among populations, although there is no reason that behavioral, ecological or molecular characters could not be used, and include tests for significant differences between samples of the putative endangered subspecies and its nearest geographic relatives. We evaluated data gathered since subspecies listed under the ESA were described finding about one-third are valid (distinct evolutionary taxa), one-third are not, and one-third have not been tested. Therefore, it should not be assumed that because a subspecies occurs in a checklist, it is taxonomically valid. If the US Fish and Wildlife Service intends to continue listing subspecies, we suggest that they convene taxonomic experts representing various groups of organisms to provide a minimal set of criteria for a subspecies to be listed under the ESA.
Subspecies
Taxonomic rank
Cite
Citations (7)
Jaguar
Home range
Biome
Keystone species
Flagship Species
Cite
Citations (12)
Abstract The jaguar is the top predator of the Atlantic Forest (AF), which is a highly threatened biodiversity hotspot that occurs in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. By combining data sets from 14 research groups across the region, we determine the population status of the jaguar and propose a spatial prioritization for conservation actions. About 85% of the jaguar’s habitat in the AF has been lost and only 7% remains in good condition. Jaguars persist in around 2.8% of the region, and live in very low densities in most of the areas. The population of jaguars in the AF is probably lower than 300 individuals scattered in small sub-populations. We identified seven Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs) and seven potential JCUs, and only three of these areas may have ≥50 individuals. A connectivity analysis shows that most of the JCUs are isolated. Habitat loss and fragmentation were the major causes for jaguar decline, but human induced mortality is the main threat for the remaining population. We classified areas according to their contribution to jaguar conservation and we recommend management actions for each of them. The methodology in this study could be used for conservation planning of other carnivore species.
Jaguar
Carnivore
Biodiversity hotspot
Flagship Species
Cite
Citations (153)
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Flagship Species
Cite
Citations (0)
Abstract Most large carnivores are secretive and threatened, and these characteristics pose problems for research on, and monitoring of, these species across extensive areas. Participatory monitoring, however, can be a useful tool for obtaining long-term data across large areas. Pumas Puma concolor and jaguars Panthera onca are the largest predators in the threatened Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest. To survey the presence of these two species we established a participatory network of volunteers and a partnership with researchers in the three countries that share the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest (Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay). We trained participants in simple methods of collecting faeces and track imprints of large felids. Between 2002 and 2008 > 100 volunteers helped with monitoring, obtaining 1,633 records identified as pumas or jaguars across c. 92,890 km 2 . We confirmed jaguar presence in a large section of the Misiones Green Corridor in Argentina and in the largest protected areas of Brazil and Paraguay. Pumas exhibited a wider distribution, being recorded throughout Misiones province in Argentina and in some areas of Brazil and Paraguay where jaguars were not detected. Both species, and especially jaguars, were detected mainly in the few remaining medium and large forest fragments in this Forest. Although these carnivores are often in conflict with local people, their charisma and cultural significance makes them flagship species that motivated the participation of volunteers and institutions. Participatory monitoring allowed coverage of a vast area at relatively low cost whilst enhancing collaborative management policies among people and institutions from three countries.
Jaguar
Flagship Species
Cite
Citations (26)