• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

The conservation of Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) in Honduras Niall McCann A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Organisms and the Environment Research Group School of Biosciences Cardiff University Supervisors: Professor M. W. Bruford & Dr P. M. Wheeler 2015 Declaration This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date …………………… STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of …………………………(insert MCh, MD, MPhil, PhD etc, as appropriate) Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………… STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………… STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………… STATEMENT 4: PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BAR ON ACCESS I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available online in the University’s Open Access repository and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access previously approved by the Academic Standards & Quality Committee. Signed ………………………………………… (candidate) Date ………………………… The conservation of Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) in Honduras Niall McCann* Supervisors: Prof. Michael W. Bruford Organisms and the Environment Research Group Cardiff School of Biosciences Biomedical Sciences Building Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX Email: [email protected] Dr. Phil M. Wheeler CEMS, University of Hull Scarborough Campus Filey Road, Scarborough, YO11 3AZ Email: [email protected] * Present Address: Niall P. McCann Organisms and the Environment Research Group Cardiff School of Biosciences Biomedical Sciences Building Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX Email: [email protected] This work was financed by: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Operation Wallacea Research Council Summary This thesis tested hypotheses about the response of Baird’s tapir to rising anthropogenic pressure in Honduras. Baird’s tapir is the largest land mammal native to the Neotropics, and was previously abundant in all countries between Mexico and Ecuador. Patterns in Baird’s tapir occupancy in Honduras were modelled to test the effect of a range of environmental variables on the distribution and abundance of the species. Analyses of the genetic structure of Baird’s tapir in Honduras revealed very little genetic diversity at the mitochondrial genome. Only two haplotypes were identified from 69 samples successfully genotyped, representing a remarkably low level of diversity, which is likely to affect the viability of the species in the long-term. Occupancy and population estimates were generated for four protected areas, and for the remaining regions in Honduras where Baird’s tapir have been confirmed to remain. Occupancy was found to be associated with environmental variables relating to accessibility. Although the population estimates generated here exceed previous estimates, evidence of ongoing poaching and deforestation of tapir habitat suggests that Baird’s tapir populations in Honduras may not be viable outside of the protected areas of La Moskitia. Population Viability Analyses for the remaining areas of tapir occupancy in Honduras demonstrate the vulnerability of the species to habitat fragmentation and hunting pressure. Annual surveys in Cusuco National Park (PNC) from 2009 to 2012 investigated the conservation status of the species in this tapir stronghold over the duration of this PhD project. Patch occupancy analysis demonstrated that Baird’s tapir display a distribution bias in PNC associated with accessibility, and identified that Baird’s tapir are suffering a population decline that has the potential to cause the extirpation of the species from this Park within the next few years. i For Dad. The single greatest inspiration in the lives of your three sons, your legacy lives on in us and in all who knew you. ii Acknowledgements First of all I would like to thank my supervisors Mike Bruford and Phil Wheeler, for giving me the opportunity to work on such a fascinating project, for your consistent support whenever it was required, and for forcing me to be highly independent throughout this study. Knowing that my hand was not going to be held at any point in this PhD has undoubtedly been of great help to my personal and professional development! Thank you for being so supportive of my many extra-curricular activities, and for actively encouraging me to pursue avenues outside of the main focus of my thesis, all of which has helped make the past few years the most remarkably enjoyable, diverse and productive of my life. Thanks too for being great guys, as good to share a pint with as you are to discuss a matter of academic importance. I would like to thank the Instituto Nacional de Conservación y Desarrollo Forestal, Áreas Protegidas y Vida Silvestre (ICF) for permission to carry out research in Honduras, and to Expediciones Servicios y Ambientales de Cusuco for logistical support in Cusuco National Park. This research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, and Operation Wallacea, to whom I am incredibly grateful. I would like to thank Bristol Zoo Gardens for their kind gift of a T. terrestris blood sample. My thanks to all of the fabulous folk who have populated Mike Bruford’s lab over the last four and a half years, and helped make coming to work every day such a pleasure. The abundance of brilliance on display here has been a great inspiration to me, and I have never experienced such a fertile environment for academic learning, or for exploring matters of philosophy. With its marvellous array of cultures, languages, specialities and interests, Mike’s lab has been a tremendous place in which to complete my PhD, and I feel hugely enriched for having spent so much time in such fine company. Particular thanks must be reserved for Dave Stanton and Pablo Orozco-terWengel, for outstanding company, tireless support, and true friendship, not to mention for your mutual appreciation of good coffee! Thanks to Dr Isabelle Durance for her patience in helping me get to grips with ArcGIS and to Dr Rob Thomas for his assistance in creating the GLM presented in Chapter 4. Since 2009 my life has been made so much richer by my association with Operation Wallacea, and by the time I have spent in Honduras. My thanks to Tim Coles in particular, who agreed to part-fund this PhD, and who has supported my brothers and me in our time with Opwall. Thank you to all of the willing volunteers and assistants whom I beasted around Cusuco National Park, to Ruth Cox and Scott Schilds for carrying the torch in 2013, and most of all to Ryan Gardiner for being the best wing man I could hope for. Thanks also to Alex Smith, Rob Pickles, my brothers Finn and Rory McCann, iii Thomas Bodey, and Mario Solis, outstanding companions in the field. Certain Opwall scientists deserve special mention, in no particular order: Jon Kolby, Sara Ramirez, Paul O’Callaghan, Fabiola Rodriguez, Edo Antunez, Claudia Guerrero, Ivany Argueta, Merlijn Jocque, Peter Taylor, Laura Daniells, Tony Otto, Sam Jones, Jen Thomas, El Hilton, Alice Evans, Eleanor Warren-Thomas, Sarah Paul, Waldo Etherington, Caroline Acton, Andrew Snyder, Rob Gandola, Oliver Burdekin and Kathy Slater. Thanks to Alex Tozer and Steve Green for genuinely caring about what happens in Honduras and for ably supporting my efforts to stop the rot in Cusuco. My thanks to all of my Honduran friends, and my guides across the country, to Mito, Antonio, Esteban, Lenin, Urias, Eduardo, Hector, Adan, and my local guides in San Rafael Marco and Roberto, and most of all to Roger for his unwavering support and brilliant field guidance, and to Roger’s family for their incredible hospitality. For the 2011 Sierra Rio Tinto National Park expedition I must thank Proyecto ECOSISTEMAS for funding the project, and my team mates on the National Tapir Monitoring Protocol pilot project: Jonathan Hernandez, Jose Vasquez, Nelson Rodrigues & Napoleon Morazan. For the 2012 Pico Bonito expedition, thanks must go to BINCO and the Royal Museum of Natural History in Brussels for their financial support. Particular thanks must be reserved for Franklin Castaneda and Nereyda Andino-Estrada, surely the most formidable couple in Latin American conservation, unfailingly generous in their support of my project, and the most brilliant advocates for conservation that Honduras could hope for. My thanks to Ant Rawlins for many nights of sausage-based cuisine and continually stimulating company, and to Rob Pickles for being a true friend and an inspiration in equal measure. My greatest love, respect and thanks is reserved for my family, simply the most wonderful and inspirational people one could meet: Dad, Mum, Rory and Finn, you light up the world wherever you go, and make me want to be a better man. And to Rachel, for “behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes”, or something like that! Thank you for your unwavering love and support despite my continuous absence, you knew all along how important this PhD was to me, and I promise to be around a (little) bit more now that it’s done! iv Contents Declaration .............................................................................................................................................

Load more

  199

Copy Link