Title
Terrestrial Vertebrate Biodiversity in Protected Areas and Indigenous Areas of the Amazon Basin
Author(s)
Robert Wallace; Omar Torrico; Zulia Porcel; Enrique Domic
Published
2020
Abstract
The Amazon is the largest tropical forest in the world, the greatest and most complex freshwater system, and is renowned for extraordinary biodiversity concentrations and significant endemism for different taxonomic groups. The Amazon basin is home to more than 350 indigenous peoples whose rights to land have gradually been recognized by the Amazonian nations over the last 40 years. Indigenous territories and protected areas play an important role in the protection of the Amazon, a hugely important global contribution given that the critical ecosystem services of the Amazon benefi t millions of people worldwide.
This study aims to demonstrate the incredible value of the Amazon basin in terms of biodiversity and the contribution of Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories, with emphasis on four groups of terrestrial vertebrates: amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Based on geospatial information on the distribution of amphibian and mammalian species from IUCN and other sources, reptiles from Roll et al. (2017) and birds from BirdLife International, in this second report we estimate the number of expected species in the Amazon basin, and within existing Indigenous Territories and Protected Areas. To determine vertebrate diversity in South America and the Amazon basin, alpha-diversity was analyzed at a 1 km2 scale. Additionally, to assess changes in species composition between sites, beta-diversity was analyzed at different scales within the Amazon basin. Finally, a complementary analysis was performed to determine the degree of similarity and representativeness in vertebrate species composition for the region.
Alpha-diversity analyses revealed a high concentration of amphibian species in
the western Amazon (up to 138 species per km2), and this group has the lowest representation levels in indigenous territories and protected areas as compared to other terrestrial groups. For reptiles, species concentrations reach up to 184 species per km2 in the Amazon, especially the central north and northwest of the basin. The areas of high concentration of birds in South America are mainly found in the Amazon basin reaching up to 596 species per km2. For mammals, most of the sites with the highest concentration of species are found in the western Amazon, reaching up to 203 species per km2. In all cases many of the species concentrations significantly overlap with the location of the conservation mosaics supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation defines a conservation mosaic as a large landscape composed of protected areas, indigenous territories, and other land use types. This concept is based on an integrated landscape approach adopted by many conservation organizations. Meanwhile, geographic patterns of beta-diversity for amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals show similar trends at all scales studied, with higher values towards the Andes and intermediate levels in the lowlands.
Collectively, the Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories contribute immensely to the conservation of the four vertebrate groups in the Amazon basin, since these conservation units are expected to harbor 1,188 species of amphibians, 947 species of reptiles, 2,454 species birds and 860 species of mammals: 94.67% of terrestrial vertebrates of the Amazon, 53.91% of terrestrial vertebrates in South America and 14.92% of terrestrial vertebrates worldwide. National and Subnational Protected Areas alone are expected to harbor 5,183 species of terrestrial vertebrates (90.05% of terrestrial vertebrates in the Amazon, 51.28% of terrestrial vertebrates in South America and 14.19% of terrestrial vertebrates worldwide), including 1,058 amphibian species, 893 reptile species, 2,386 bird species and 846 mammal species. Whereas Indigenous Territories are expected to harbor 4,921 terrestrial vertebrate species (85.49% of terrestrial vertebrates of the Amazon, 48.68% of terrestrial vertebrates of South America and 13.48% of terrestrial vertebrates worldwide), including 939 amphibian species, 848 reptile species, 2,334 species of birds and 800 mammal species.
These analyses demonstrate that together Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories are expected to host the majority of terrestrial vertebrates of the Amazon basin, stressing the importance of their management through territorial planning, control and surveillance and effective management. Indeed, to date deforestation levels and environmental degradation rates are significantly lower in Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories than elsewhere in the Amazon. The analysis of representativeness at the country level also reveals that Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories in most Amazonian nations would house more than 70% of vertebrate species diversity, further underlining that the collective of Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories are located in strategic and effi cient conservation sites. However, for amphibians and reptiles there are lower levels of species representativeness in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, compared to French Guiana, Peru, Suriname and Bolivia where levels are higher.
The vertebrate complementarity analysis for the Amazon basin shows that of the 254 cells covering this region, an estimated 112 cells would need to be protected to include all 100% of amphibian species, 87 cells for all reptile species, 66 cells for all birds and 46 cells for all mammal species. A comparison of the selected complementarity cells for the four vertebrate groups with the National Protected Areas, Subnational Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories in each country, demonstrated that independently the differing management unit categories fail to fully protect these cells, but when combined they manage to protect almost all of the cells, further highlighting their complementarity towards biodiversity conservation in the Amazon. Overall these analyses underline the commitment that Amazonian nations have already made towards biodiversity conservation in the Amazon through the formal designation of Protected Areas across the basin, and the recognition of large areas as Indigenous Territories. Together these conservation friendly management units amount to almost 50% of the basin and this study demonstrates that most terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity, almost 95%, is expected to occur within at least one of Protected Area or Indigenous Territory. ISBN: 978-99974-925-9-3
Keywords
Protected Areas; Indigenous Territories; amphibians; reptiles; mammals; birds; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Full Citation
Wallace, R., O. Torrico, Z. Porcel, and E. Domic (2020). Terrestrial Vertebrate Biodiversity in Protected Areas and Indigenous Areas of the Amazon Basin. La Paz, Bolivia: Wildlife Conservation Society, Bolivia, 1-84.
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