Rupununi Region Research Articles

Projecting the theoretical niche of a recently re-discovered population of feral Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in the North Rupununi wetlands, Guyana

ABSTRACT We provide documentation of a population of feral domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) that has persisted in the wetlands of the North Rupununi Region of Guyana for more than 75 years. Historical records indicate that water buffalo were incidentally introduced to the Rupununi by the colonial administration of British Guiana. Personal observations, camera trap photos, and reports of opportunistic encounters populate our maximum-entropy model, which projects a total of 2,489 km2 of suitable water buffalo habitat across the region, including 1,076 km2 of the RAMSAR-nominated North Rupununi wetlands (~11% of total land area). Key informants indicate that populations appear to have slowly increased and expanded their range over the past 30 years but fall far below projections using even the lowest population densities at ecologically analogous sites published in peer-reviewed literature. We discuss potential ecological impacts of water buffalo persistence and inhibitors of population growth by drawing on case studies from ecologically analogous locations.

Survey of Methylmercury Exposures and Risk Factors Among Indigenous Communities in Guyana, South America.

Background.Gold mining activities in forested areas across Guyana have been a common practice for more than a century. The intensification of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in recent decades caused by global market demand is contributing to the mobilization of mercury into aquatic systems. Indigenous populations who consume high levels of locally sourced fish are greater at risk for methylmercury poisoning from ingestion of contaminated fish.Objectives.The aim of the present study was to investigate the levels of mercury contamination and identify the risk factors associated with hair mercury levels in four indigenous communities in Guyana.Methods.Concentrations of total mercury were measured in hair samples from 99 participants from four indigenous communities in the south Rupununi region in Guyana. The findings of this study were compared with those of previous studies to assess the prevalence of mercury contamination in indigenous communities across Guyana.Results.Hair mercury levels were found to be above the World Health Organization (WHO) reference value for residents who live close to ASGM activities and who consume high quantities of locally sourced fish. Our results are not only consistent with those obtained in previous studies, but also evidence that mercury poisoning has become a generalized problem for indigenous communities in Guyana.Conclusions.Fish is the main source of protein for many riverine communities and consumption of mercury-contaminated fish poses a serious health hazard for these vulnerable populations. The situation is especially dire for community members of Parabara with 100% of participants showing elevated (>15 μg*g−1) hair mercury levels. It is therefore crucial that Parabara residents be evaluated by relevant health agencies for clinical symptoms related to mercury toxicity.Participant Consent.ObtainedEthics Approval.The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Ministry of Public Health, Guyana.Competing Interests.The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Impact of Low-Intensity Hunting on Game Species in and Around the Kanuku Mountains Protected Area, Guyana

Unsustainable harvest is driving population declines in tropical forest species across the globe. Despite maintaining the second highest percent forest cover in the world (85%), concern is increasing in Guyana that unmanaged commercial and subsistence hunting activities could result in defaunation, and the cascading ecological effects of ‘empty forests.’ The Rupununi region in southwestern Guyana, home to the Kanuku Mountains Protected Area (KMPA), hosts one of the world’s lowest human population densities (0.42 people/km2), as well as large tracts of both Neotropical savanna and forest habitats, making it one of the country’s most biodiverse regions. Indigenous Makushi and Wapichan communities that reside there have maintained subsistence lifestyles mediated by traditional beliefs and management practices for millennia. However, as human populations and access to markets increase, there is a corresponding increase in harvesting of natural resources. Protected areas have long been recognized for their role in biodiversity conservation, while also serving as a reserve for subsistence hunters. The KMPA, one of Guyana’s newest protected areas, allows for the continued sustainable use of its resources by indigenous communities. It is critical to understand the patterns, impacts, and sustainable levels of hunting in and around the protected area so that biodiversity can be managed and conserved effectively. Our study shows that the impact of current hunting intensity in and around the KMPA remains relatively low and supports the hypothesis that Neotropical forests can support hunting pressure of <1 person/km2. While our results show that current levels of hunting in the region can be considered sustainable, small shifts in activity patterns and relative abundance of preferred game species were observed in higher intensity hunting areas, which in turn appeared to have influenced other non-hunted species’ activity patterns and relative abundance. Our results suggest therefore, that even in low hunting intensity areas, monitoring both preferred game and non-hunted species’ activity patterns and abundances is important to act as an early warning system before animal populations are significantly impacted by overharvesting. Further, our study highlights the importance of considering the entire ecosystem and not simply individual populations when establishing sustainable harvesting rates for an area.

Additions to the avifauna of two localities in the southern Rupununi&amp;nbsp;region, Guyana

Additions to the avifauna of two localities in the southern Rupununi&amp;nbsp;region, Guyana

The first record of Calomys hummelincki (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae) from the Lavrados of northern Brazil

The South American genus Calomys exhibits a disjunct distribution with most species inhabiting grasslands, savannas, and forest edges from ca. latitude 8° S in the highlands of Peru and the Caatinga of Brazil to ca. latitude 16° S in central Bolivia, and from there south into Argentine Patagonia. Only a single species ( Calomys hummelincki ) occurs in open habitats in northern South America. We report the first known specimen of Calomys hummelincki for Brazil. The specimen is deposited in the mammal collection of Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo. It is a young adult female with two embryos collected on 13 March 1989 by C. M. Carvalho at Fazenda Salvamento, Roraima state, during a herpetofaunal survey. The specimen shares qualitative and quantitative characters with specimens from Venezuela and Curacao, but also differs substantially in others. The record presented herein extends the known range of the species about 630 km southeastward from the nearest previous record (in Venezuela, Estado Bolivar, Sipao). This new record was obtained in a locality representative of the savannas of the Rio Branco – Rupununi region that supports a poorly known, but distinctive mammalian fauna. This entire eco-region represents a piece of the biogeographic puzzle resulting from the climate-dependent vegetation shifts that dominated the Quaternary of South America. This new record highlights the need to investigate and protect the biodiversity of the Rio Branco-Rupununi savannas.

Growth rates of black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) in the Rupununi region of Guyana

We conducted a study of black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) growth rates using data from a long-term mark-recapture study carried out in the Rupununi region of Guyana between 2005 and 2015. In contrast to previous studies, growth rates of black caiman declined with increasing size and this decline occurred more rapidly for females. Size-at-age models predicted that males and females reach asymptotic sizes of 178.2-189.0 cm SVL and 140.1-143.4 cm SVL, respectively. Our results suggest that growth rates of black caiman in the Rupununi region follow the same general patterns as for other crocodilians, and that disparities with previous black caiman studies may be largely related to density-dependent factors, among other possibilities. However, future studies that include large black caiman of known ages are needed to validate our findings.

Developing sustainable tourism through ecomuseology: a case study in the Rupununi region of Guyana

Sustainability is a concept that continues to evolve and perplex in tourism, one of the world's largest industries. Effective new theories and practices are constantly explored so as to incorporate sustainability into tourism frameworks. Due to their focus on participation processes, integration of resources, and responses to specific needs and contexts, ecomuseum principles can be very useful for the development of sustainable tourism. This paper examines the potential of using the principles of ecomuseology to support sustainable tourism development. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach involving local expert stakeholders at the case study site, the Rupununi region of Guyana, South America. The findings from this research suggest that the principles of ecomuseology possess considerable potential to support sustainable tourism development in the Rupununi and potentially other destinations internationally. In particular, this study illustrates how ecomuseological principles can be used to manage heritage resources and economic development by focusing on, for example, holistic interpretation and information sharing, placing equal attention on heritage resources, and monitoring changes to the region over time.

Assessing carbon stocks using indigenous peoples’ field measurements in Amazonian Guyana

Accurate estimations of carbon stocks across large tracts of tropical forests are key for participation in programs promoting avoided deforestation and carbon sequestration, such as the UN REDD+ framework. Trained local technicians can provide such data, and this, combined with satellite imagery, allows robust carbon stock estimation across vegetation classes and large areas. In the first comprehensive survey in Guyana conducted by indigenous people, ground data from 21 study sites in the Rupununi region were used to estimate above ground tree carbon density across a diversity of ecosystems and land use types. Carbon stocks varied between village sites from 1Tg to 22.7Tg, and these amounts were related to stem density and diameter. This variation was correlated with vegetation type across the region, with savannas holding on average 14MgCha−1 and forests 153MgCha−1. The results indicated that previous estimates based on remotely sensed data for this area may be inaccurate (under estimations). There were also differences in carbon densities between village sites and uninhabited control areas, which are presumably driven by community use. Recruiting local technicians for field work allowed (a) large amounts of ground data to be collected for a wide region otherwise hard to access, and (b) ensured that local people were directly involved in Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy as part of REDD+. This is the first such comprehensive survey of carbon stocks, carbon density and vegetation types over a large area in Guyana, one of the first countries to develop such a program. The potential inclusion of forests held by indigenous peoples in REDD+ programs is a global issue: we clearly show that indigenous people are capable of assessing and monitoring carbon on their lands.

Agent-based modeling of hunting and subsistence agriculture on indigenous lands: Understanding interactions between social and ecological systems

Indigenous people of the Rupununi region of Amazonian Guyana interact with their natural environment through hunting and subsistence agriculture. To date the sustainability of indigenous livelihoods has been analyzed by modeling either hunting or forest clearing. Here we develop a holistic model framework with agent-based modeling to examine interactions between demographic growth, hunting, subsistence agriculture, land cover change, and animal population in the Rupununi. We use an extensive field dataset from social surveys, animal observation records and hunting kill locations along with satellite images. The model exhibits feedback loops between a growing human population and depletion of local natural resources. Our model can reproduce the population size of two different villages along with landscape patterns without further calibration. Our model can be used for understanding the conditions of sustainability for indigenous communities relying on subsistence agriculture and hunting, and for scenario analyses to examine the implications of external interventions.

From the Editor

From the Editor David J. Robinson One of the characteristics of articles published in this journal is their wide-ranging nature: some deal with issue at the national scale, other at the details of micro-regions; others consider theoretical issues, often with subtle methodological underpinnings, and yet others with concrete issues facing real people in the past and present. The first essay in this issue addresses a very practical question: just how vulnerable are the many new tourist centers established to meet the demands of the ever-increasing millions of tourists who travel to developing world locations? Here a sample coastal site in Nicaragua is analyzed, a site that suffered severely from the tsunami of 1992. Detailed field- research allow the authors to isolate multiple factor that contribute to not only the vulnerability but also the potential sustainability of the site. Tourism and Nicaragua again provide key foci of the second paper. Here the key question relates to the impact of a Marine Protected Area, established in favor of major tourist developments, on artisanal fishing. Tourists may love the beaches of coastal Pacific Nicaragua, but the offshore riches of fish have long provided hundreds of families with income and traditional lifestyles. Who deserve more attention clearly depends on national versus regional interest groups, the former having much louder voices in this age of electronic information. For our third Nicaraguan context we move to the northern shore of Lake Managua to the municipality of San Francisco Libre where the community is allegedly attempting to move beyond the binaries of nature/culture to include non-humans in the development of what is termed ecological citizenship. While some may question the role of trees and documents as agents, instead of important contextual factors, the discussion opens a diversity of distinctive opinions and perspectives that enliven the debate concerning political and ecological rights. We next move to Mexico where, in the first study, the authors assess the spatial segregation affecting one of that country’s most popular tourist destinations. Using indices that categorize segregation they are able to demonstrate that the last two decades have intensified the process with major infrastructural developments and internal population shifts leading to segregated facilities and activities. There are now essentially two Puerto Vallartas: that of the tourist, and that o its service periphery. Next, we move east to the western periphery of Guadalajara to examine the impacts of educational and economic change as they have affected the population of the town of Atotonilco El Bajo. If one immediately wonders why this settlement’s analysis is significant, one has to remember that it has long been the origin of migrants to Milwaukee in the US, and thus the recent rapid decrease in such migrant flows is highly relevant. Increasing educational attainment and economic diversification in Atotonilco are clearly key explanatory variables, as are labor market diversification and other transnational factors. [End Page 5] We finish our Mexican analyses on the northern border, a region of intense securitization and regulation responding to such issues as drug-related violence, terrorist threats, and the persistent problem of illegal border crossings. The central question of this article is just how have such contextual factors impacted NGOs that operate in the region? We are reminded by the sample of bi-national NGOs studied here that much goes on in the border region that falls outside the normal interpretations of geopolitics. Hyper-militarization has affected multiple efforts at socio-economic assistance. Now our focus shifts to South America, first to the relatively little-studied nation of Guyana. Here the author examines the sequence of historical development of cattle ranching and trade and its impacts on traditional cultures of the southern Rupununi region. While cattle ranching began as a Guyanese economic practice, once a trail/road had connected the ranching area to Georgetown and the Atlantic, Brazilians saw this as a key portal to open their western Amazonian region to international trade. Internal ‘beef to the Georgetown market’ is increasingly being replaced by ‘Brazilian products to the world market,’ creating multiple and many negative impacts on indigenous populations in Guyana. Roads may become pathways to development but they can also provide uneasy networks of power relations...

Space, Place, and Hunting Patterns among Indigenous Peoples of the Guyanese Rupununi Region

La cacería persiste como una actividad importante de subsistencia para muchos pueblos indígenas de los neotrópicos. Aquí describimos los patrones de cacería en el sur de Guyana usando un método mixto, desde una perspectiva del espacio y lugar que toma en cuenta factores biofísicos y culturales. Nuestros resultados coinciden con los de otros investigadores, en que la distancia del pueblo, mediada por la característica del ambiente físico, afecta las zonas donde actúan los cazadores. Nuestro mapeo del paisaje cultural, demuestra que el 'sentido de lugar' también es importante. Argumentamos que los investigadores y los que manejan estos territorios deben incluir, no solamente el ambiente físico, sino el contexto cultural que forma parte de la biodiversidad y el manejo y uso de los recursos sustentables.

Weaning practices of the Makushi of Guyana and their relationship to infant and child mortality: A preliminary assessment of international recommendations

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first 6 months of life, primarily because of potential immunological benefits which are deemed to outweigh nutritive costs for infants. This recommendation is controversial, as studies of the relationship between the term of EBF and infant and child health have produced conflicting results. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between the term of EBF and infant and child mortality among a group of swidden-horticulturalists in lowland South America. Consistent with the WHO, we hypothesized that EBF <6 months will compromise the survival of the infant or child. This relationship was assessed via recall data generated in 2001 in structured interviews with 60 Makushi Amerindian women in Guyana's North Rupununi region. The data were analyzed with t-tests, Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression. The results do not support our hypothesis; the term of EBF is not found to be related to infant or child mortality. This is surprising given the potential for contamination in nonbreast-milk foods in this environment. Notably, this is occurring among mothers who are not energetically stressed. We propose that the apparent lack of benefit of EBF >or=6 months is due to insufficient energy supply from breast milk alone, which may predispose the child to morbidity when subsequently stressed. This study concurs with others which revealed no significant benefits to the infant of EBF >6 months, and the recognition that universal recommendations must be situated within local ecological contexts.