Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Geography of Hunting, Habitat, and Human Settlement in Panama: Spatial Analysis and Implications for Neotropical Wildlife Conservation

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Neotropical rain forest regions are home to growing indigenous populations that depend on forest resources for many of their basic needs. The impacts of their subsistence activities on native flora and fauna remain poorly understood, but it is clear that indigenous peoples are not always in perfect harmony with their natural surroundings. Game depletion by indigenous hunters has been documented in several rain forest settings, resulting in "empty forests" with potentially devastating ecological ramifications. The spatial dimensions of game extraction, the importance of agricultural lands as hunting grounds, and traditional wildlife management practices are three important facets of indigenous hunting that have received especially little scientific investigation. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the cultural ecology of hunting among eleven Bugle communities in the Rio Grande watershed of Bocas del Toro, Panama, over a year-long period. The study will focus on the spatial dimensions of hunting yields. habitat, and human settlement in order to measure human impacts on different wildlife species at a regional scale; to delimit zones of game depletion and analyze the relationship between human population density and hunting yields; and to document the relative importance of primary rain forest versus agricultural lands as sources of game and evaluate the conditions under which human-managed habitats become important sources of game. Field research methods will include participant observation during agricultural, gardening, and fishing activities; direct observation during hunting expeditions; independent research and traveling with local guides to gather GPS points; and innovative participatory research methods that directly involve five Bugle surveyors in implementing a census, collecting toponym information, and administering biweekly hunting activity questionnaires. This project will be an ethnographic investigation of a virtually unstudied Central American indigenous group. It will help fill a significant gap in our basic understanding of the relationship between culture and environment in the rain forest setting. By documenting indigenous wildlife management practices, this project will help explain how indigenous peoples adapt to the rain forest environment. It also will demonstrate that indigenous peoples are not passive foragers independent of their cultural background but knowledgeable resource managers with the skills to participate in new conservation initiatives. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.