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Large-scale population disappearances and cycling in the white-lipped peccary, a tropical forest mammal

Fragoso, José M V, Antunes, André P, Silvius, Kirsten M, Constantino, Pedro A L, Zapata-Ríos, Galo, Bizri, Hani R El, Bodmer, Richard E., Camino, Micaela, Thoisy, Benoit de, Wallace, Robert B, and others. (2022) Large-scale population disappearances and cycling in the white-lipped peccary, a tropical forest mammal. PloS one, 17 (10). Article Number e0276297. ISSN 1932-6203. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0276297) (KAR id:98188)

Abstract

Many vertebrate species undergo population fluctuations that may be random or regularly cyclic in nature. Vertebrate population cycles in northern latitudes are driven by both endogenous and exogenous factors. Suggested causes of mysterious disappearances documented for populations of the Neotropical, herd-forming, white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari, henceforth "WLP") include large-scale movements, overhunting, extreme floods, or disease outbreaks. By analyzing 43 disappearance events across the Neotropics and 88 years of commercial and subsistence harvest data for the Amazon, we show that WLP disappearances are widespread and occur regularly and at large spatiotemporal scales throughout the species' range. We present evidence that the disappearances represent 7-12-year troughs in 20-30-year WLP population cycles occurring synchronously at regional and perhaps continent-wide spatial scales as large as 10,000-5 million km2. This may represent the first documented case of natural population cyclicity in a Neotropical mammal. Because WLP populations often increase dramatically prior to a disappearance, we posit that their population cycles result from over-compensatory, density-dependent mortality. Our data also suggest that the increase phase of a WLP cycle is partly dependent on recolonization from proximal, unfragmented and undisturbed forests. This highlights the importance of very large, continuous natural areas that enable source-sink population dynamics and ensure re-colonization and local population persistence in time and space.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276297
Uncontrolled keywords: Animals, Mammals, Artiodactyla, Forests
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation > DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)
Funders: University of Kent (https://ror.org/00xkeyj56)
SWORD Depositor: JISC Publications Router
Depositing User: JISC Publications Router
Date Deposited: 30 Nov 2022 15:30 UTC
Last Modified: 18 Jul 2024 10:24 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/98188 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Bodmer, Richard E..

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