Your browser doesn't support javascript.
loading
Hunters' preferences and perceptions as hunting predictors in a semiarid ecosystem.
Chaves, Leonardo S; Alves, Rômulo R N; Albuquerque, Ulysses Paulino.
Affiliation
  • Chaves LS; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Etnobiologia e Conservação da Natureza, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, 52171-900 Recife, PE, Brazil; Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos, Centro de Biociências, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50670-901 Recife, PE, Brazil.
  • Alves RRN; Departamento de Biologia e Programa de Pós-Graduação em Etnobiologia e Conservação da Natureza, Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Av. das Baraúnas, 351/Campus Universitário, Bodocongó, Campina Grande, PB 58109-753, Brazil.
  • Albuquerque UP; Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos, Centro de Biociências, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50670-901 Recife, PE, Brazil. Electronic address: ulysses.albuquerque@ufpe.br.
Sci Total Environ ; 726: 138494, 2020 Jul 15.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32320877
Game meat is a resource widely exploited by rural populations in various parts of the world. In recent decades, the growth in the number of people living near conserved areas has increased the demand for game meat. In this work, based on the Social-ecological Theory of Maximization, we seek to verify the influence of cost-benefit ratio, availability, and subjective preferences (flavor) in the selection of hunted species. We interviewed game-eating people in seven communities in the Brazilian semiarid region, recording information on hunting strategies, flavor preferences, and relative abundance of game fauna. We found that people hunt for the most available species regardless of the cost-benefit of this choice. Also, flavor preference can increase the odds of a species being hunted almost 100%. Our data show that hunters may prefer species that require less capture effort, even though they have energy-efficient alternatives. We found that flavor preference is proportionally the variable with the most significant effect on the chances of a species being hunted, suggesting that traditional optimal foraging models are too simple to cover the complexity involved in the selection of game species.
Subject(s)
Key words

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Ecosystem / Conservation of Natural Resources Type of study: Prognostic_studies / Risk_factors_studies Limits: Humans Country/Region as subject: America do sul / Brasil Language: En Journal: Sci Total Environ Year: 2020 Document type: Article Affiliation country: Brazil Country of publication: Netherlands

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Ecosystem / Conservation of Natural Resources Type of study: Prognostic_studies / Risk_factors_studies Limits: Humans Country/Region as subject: America do sul / Brasil Language: En Journal: Sci Total Environ Year: 2020 Document type: Article Affiliation country: Brazil Country of publication: Netherlands