Cacería de subsistencia de distintos grupos indígenas de la Amazonía ecuatoriana

Abstract

De la Montaña, E. (2013). Subsistence hunting of indigenous people from Ecuadorian Amazon. Ecosistemas 22(2):84-96. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.2013.22-2.13 Hunting is an essential component of culture and survival strategy for many Amazonian indigenous peoples. Moreover, hunting is an important threat to the biodiversity of many areas. In this paper we compiled data on game harvests from 14 tribal settlements in Ecuadorian Amazon. The age and size of hunting settlements were correlated with key parameters of harvest profiles. Harvest volumes were compared with those considered sustainable for each species. Results show that mammals are the most important group in terms of biomass and number of animals harvested. We indicate that as hunting persistence increases there is a predictable shift from vulnerable to more hunting resilient species. Overexploited species in most settlements were woolly monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha and Lagothrix poeppigii), lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) and salvin’s curassow (Mitu salvini). However, these species continue being hunted even though effort required to track these down is greater. Our study demonstrated that hunting by indigenous communities in Ecuador responses to species availability, and cultural changes of indigenous people could cause unsustainable exploitation of hunting resources if recruitment possibilities on population under pressure diminish.