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

新热带雨林地区是越来越多的土著人口的家园，他们依靠森林资源满足许多基本需求。 他们的生计活动对本地植物群和动物群的影响仍然知之甚少，但显然，土著人民并不总是与其自然环境完全和谐。 据记录，在几个雨林环境中，土著猎人耗尽了猎物，导致"空林"，可能造成破坏性的生态后果。 狩猎的空间维度，农业土地作为狩猎场的重要性，以及传统的野生动物管理做法是土著狩猎的三个重要方面，这些方面的科学调查特别少。 这个博士论文研究项目将研究狩猎的文化生态在巴拿马博卡斯德尔托罗的格兰德河流域的11个号角社区，在长达一年的时间。 这项研究将侧重于狩猎产量的空间方面。本项目的目的是：评估人类活动对野生动物栖息地和人类住区的影响，以便在区域范围内衡量人类活动对不同野生动物物种的影响;划定猎物枯竭区，分析人口密度与狩猎产量之间的关系;记录原始雨林与农业用地作为猎物来源的相对重要性，并评估人类管理的栖息地成为重要猎物来源的条件。 实地研究方法将包括在农业，园艺和渔业活动中的参与观察;狩猎探险期间的直接观察;独立研究和与当地导游一起旅行以收集GPS点;以及创新的参与性研究方法，直接涉及五名Bugle调查员实施人口普查，收集地名信息，并管理每两周一次的狩猎活动问卷。 这个项目将是一个几乎未经研究的中美洲土著群体的人种学调查。 它将有助于填补我们对雨林环境中文化与环境之间关系的基本理解中的一个重大空白。 通过记录土著野生动物管理做法，该项目将有助于解释土著人民如何适应雨林环境。 它还将表明，土著人民不是独立于其文化背景的被动的觅食者，而是知识渊博的资源管理者，有技能参与新的保护举措。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。

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.