National parks and conservation concessions: a comparison between mammal populations in two types of tropical protected areas in Ucayali, Peru

Abstract

Peru contains the second largest surface area of the Amazon biome. The Peruvian Amazon is threatened by logging, illegal crops, mining, and agricultural expansion. While a number of national parks exist in the Amazon region, privately managed areas like Conservation Concessions can be an attractive complement to existing parks. We compare medium and large mammal communities in a Conservation Concession in Ucayali with the nearby Parque Nacional Sierra del Divisor National Park and describe species relative abundance and richness of both protected areas. Results suggest that Conservation Concessions can harbour an important diversity of mammal species and could provide connections to larger protected areas. However, they are no substitutes for large protected areas, especially for sensitive and threatened species. Further research is needed to demonstrate their complementarity and improve landscape-level connectivity between conservation models.