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Anthropogenic influences on the distribution of a threatened apex-predator around sustainable-use reserves following hydropower dam installation
Although previous studies demonstrate declines in many large bodied species following hydropower dam installation, others suggest that some species, including the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) may return to newly created reservoir habitats. Yet, there is a lack of evidence to support such the...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
PeerJ Inc.
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9588301/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36285331 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14287 |
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author | Raffo, Deborah C. Dávila Norris, Darren Hartz, Sandra Maria Michalski, Fernanda |
author_facet | Raffo, Deborah C. Dávila Norris, Darren Hartz, Sandra Maria Michalski, Fernanda |
author_sort | Raffo, Deborah C. Dávila |
collection | PubMed |
description | Although previous studies demonstrate declines in many large bodied species following hydropower dam installation, others suggest that some species, including the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) may return to newly created reservoir habitats. Yet, there is a lack of evidence to support such theories. Here, we analyzed the effects of a hydropower dam on giant otters using a before-after control-impact study design in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. We collected data 3 years before (2011–2012 and 2015) and after (2017–2019) dam construction, totaling 6,459 km of surveys along rivers with 43 direct sightings of giant otters. Contrary to expectations, our results revealed that giant otters did not remain nor did they return to the dam reservoir. Beyond the zone directly impacted by the dam giant otter occurrence and relative abundance declined next to sustainable-use reserves where the river was more intensely used by people. Our study showed that in the absence of active management sustainable-use reserves and low human density were not sufficient to maintain this apex-predator. Our findings suggest a need to proactively create and maintain areas with low levels of anthropogenic disturbance to enable sustainable coexistence between energy demands and biodiversity across Amazonia. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9588301 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-95883012022-10-24 Anthropogenic influences on the distribution of a threatened apex-predator around sustainable-use reserves following hydropower dam installation Raffo, Deborah C. Dávila Norris, Darren Hartz, Sandra Maria Michalski, Fernanda PeerJ Conservation Biology Although previous studies demonstrate declines in many large bodied species following hydropower dam installation, others suggest that some species, including the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) may return to newly created reservoir habitats. Yet, there is a lack of evidence to support such theories. Here, we analyzed the effects of a hydropower dam on giant otters using a before-after control-impact study design in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. We collected data 3 years before (2011–2012 and 2015) and after (2017–2019) dam construction, totaling 6,459 km of surveys along rivers with 43 direct sightings of giant otters. Contrary to expectations, our results revealed that giant otters did not remain nor did they return to the dam reservoir. Beyond the zone directly impacted by the dam giant otter occurrence and relative abundance declined next to sustainable-use reserves where the river was more intensely used by people. Our study showed that in the absence of active management sustainable-use reserves and low human density were not sufficient to maintain this apex-predator. Our findings suggest a need to proactively create and maintain areas with low levels of anthropogenic disturbance to enable sustainable coexistence between energy demands and biodiversity across Amazonia. PeerJ Inc. 2022-10-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9588301/ /pubmed/36285331 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14287 Text en © 2022 Raffo et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. |
spellingShingle | Conservation Biology Raffo, Deborah C. Dávila Norris, Darren Hartz, Sandra Maria Michalski, Fernanda Anthropogenic influences on the distribution of a threatened apex-predator around sustainable-use reserves following hydropower dam installation |
title | Anthropogenic influences on the distribution of a threatened apex-predator around sustainable-use reserves following hydropower dam installation |
title_full | Anthropogenic influences on the distribution of a threatened apex-predator around sustainable-use reserves following hydropower dam installation |
title_fullStr | Anthropogenic influences on the distribution of a threatened apex-predator around sustainable-use reserves following hydropower dam installation |
title_full_unstemmed | Anthropogenic influences on the distribution of a threatened apex-predator around sustainable-use reserves following hydropower dam installation |
title_short | Anthropogenic influences on the distribution of a threatened apex-predator around sustainable-use reserves following hydropower dam installation |
title_sort | anthropogenic influences on the distribution of a threatened apex-predator around sustainable-use reserves following hydropower dam installation |
topic | Conservation Biology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9588301/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36285331 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14287 |
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