O PADRÃO DA CAÇA DE SUBSISTÊNCIA EM UMA RESERVA EXTRATIVISTA NA AMAZÔNIA ORIENTAL, BRASIL

Abstract

Hunting wild animals is one of the most common practices for the use of natural resources, however when carried out on a large scale it can reach alarming levels and even characterize itself as an extinction threat to wild populations. Thus, considering the need to expand studies that address this issue, this article aimed to describe the patterns of hunting activity carried out in six communities of the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve, located in western Pará, Brazil, and members of the Biodiversity Monitoring Program (Monitora). Based on the Participatory Mapping of the protected area, such areas have been pre-classified into levels of hunting intensity (high, medium and low). Thus, using the data from 864 hunting events, it was possible to qualify the time invested in hunting and investigate the composition and biomass of species killed in communities with different levels of intensity. In one year of monitoring, it was possible to observe a dissimilarity in the composition and biomass of slaughtered species, as well as the time invested in hunting activities. These results may be a reflection of hunting strategies (slaughter pref- erence) employed by traditional communities and not necessarily of the high intensity of fauna use in areas of greater pressure for the activity. The pattern of capture of the species in Tapajós-Arapiuns can be confirmed over time through the participatory monitoring project of subsistence hunting.