Check List 16(5): 1229-1237, doi: 10.15560/16.5.1229
Large- and medium-bodied terrestrial mammals of the Upper Berbice region of Guyana
Meshach A. Pierre‡, Leroy Ignacio§, Evi A. D. Paemelaere|¶‡ Winston Cobb Memorial Fellow, Panthera, New York, United States of America§ South Rupununi Conservation Society, Shulinab, Guyana| People & Wildlife Solutions, Manari, Guyana¶ Panthera, New York, United States of America
Corresponding author: Meshach A. Pierre ( meshachpierre@gmail.com ) Academic editor: Thiago Borges Semedo Fernandes © Meshach A. Pierre, Leroy Ignacio, Evi A. D. Paemelaere. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Pierre MA, Ignacio L, Paemelaere EAD (2020) Large- and medium-bodied terrestrial mammals of the Upper Berbice region of Guyana. Check List 16(5): 1229-1237. https://doi.org/10.15560/16.5.1229 |  |
Abstract
Large mammals are key contributors to forest ecosystems globally, but Neotropical mammal populations are understudied. We employed remotely triggered camera traps and track surveys to assess the mammal community in the newly accessible upper Berbice region of Guyana. In a cumulative 2,821 trap nights between two camps and 14 km of track surveys we recorded 18 species of mammals. Camera trap records showed that Red-Rumped Agouti (Dasyprocta leporina (Linnaeus, 1758)) featured the highest relative abundance at both camps, while Tayra (Eira barbara (Linnaeus, 1758)), Amazonian Brown Brocket Deer (Mazama nemorivaga (F. Cuvier, 1817)), Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Linnaeus, 1758)) and Giant Armadillo (Priodontes maximus (Kerr, 1792)) the lowest. We also report naïve occupancy estimates. Detections of threatened and disturbance sensitive species indicate that the study site has a high biodiversity value. We provide recommendations for further study in this recently disturbed ecosystem and other understudied regions of Guyana.
Keywords
Biodiversity, camera traps, Guiana Shield, non-volant, rapid assessment, relative abundance