Abstract
In Venezuela, mammals represent an important group of wildlife with high anthropogenic pressures that threaten their permanence. Focused on the need to generate baseline information that allows us to contribute to document and conserve the richness of local wildlife, we conducted a mammalogical inventory in Yurubí National Park, located in Yaracuy State in Venezuela. We carried out fieldworks in three selected vegetation types: an evergreen forest at 197m, a semi-deciduous forest ranging between 100-230m, and a cloud forest at 1 446m. We used Victor, Sherman, Havahart and pitfall traps for the capture of small non-volant mammals and mist nets for bats. In addition, we carried out interviews with local residents and direct-indirect observations for medium-large sized mammals. At least 79 species inhabit the area, representing 28% of the species recorded for the North side of the country. Chiroptera (39 spp.), Carnivora (13 spp.) and Rodentia (9 spp.) were the orders with the highest richness, as expected for the Neotropics. The evergreen forest had the greatest species richness (n=68), with a sampling effort of 128 net-hours, 32 bucket-days, 16 hours of observations, and three persons interviewed, followed by cloud forest (n=45) with 324 net-hours, 790 traps-night, 77 bucket-days, 10 hours of observations, and one person interviewed. The lowest richness value was in the semi-deciduous forest (n=41), with 591 traps-night, 15 net-hours, 10 hours of observations and three persons interviewed. Data and observations obtained in this inventory (e.g., endemism, species known as "surrogate species" threatened in Venezuela) give an important role at the Yurubí National Park in the maintenance and conservation of local ecosystems and wildlife, threatened by human pressures in the Cordillera de la Costa.
Highlights
In Venezuela, mammals represent the second richest group of terrestrial vertebrates, after birds (Hilty et al 2003, Ochoa & Aguilera 2003). Linares (1998) documented 327 species included in 12 orders and 42 families
Because there is a lack of mammalogical information in Yurubí National Park, added to anthropogenic pressures that threaten the permanence of species that inhabit the mountain regions in Cordillera de la Costa (Ochoa et al 1995, Rodríguez & Rojas 1998), here, we present the preliminary results of an inventory focused on the need to generate baseline information as an effort to contribute with some information and to stimulate the conservation of local wildlife
With respect to medium-large sized mammals of hunting interest such as peccaries (Pecari tajacu and Tayassu pecari), paca (Cuniculus paca), agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) and deer (Mazama americana and Odocoileus cariacou) among others, their use as food can be considered as occasional, but it can be transformed if the daily use by local residents results successful in their hunting activities
Summary
In Venezuela, mammals represent the second richest group of terrestrial vertebrates, after birds (Hilty et al 2003, Ochoa & Aguilera 2003). Linares (1998) documented 327 species included in 12 orders and 42 families. Ochoa & Aguilera (2003) reported 351 species in 13 orders and 43 families and this number has increased in recent years thanks to taxonomic contributions and new descriptions (e.g., Anderson 2003, Lew & Pérez-Hernández 2004, Sánchez et al 2005, Lew et al 2006, Weskler et al 2006, Molinari 2007, Gutiérrez & Molinari 2008). Taxonomic studies of other vertebrates in localities of the Sierra de Aroa and in the Yurubí National Park have resulted in descriptions of new endemic species: a highland forest frog For Yurubí vegetation, there is endemism reported in some plant species in families Rubiaceae: Hoffmania aroensis, H. stenocarpa and Piperaceae: Piperomia croizatiana (Delascio 1977)
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