Subsistence hunting provides a crucial food source for rural populations in tropical forests but is often said to be unsustainable. However, previous methods treat sustainability as a binary ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, which is particularly problematic because the answer to that question depends entirely on the spatial scale being considered. To remedy this, my research treats sustainability as an inherently spatial problem. Rather than label hunting as sustainable or not sustainable, I quantify the spatial area where hunting will cause local extirpation, and assess how this area depends on the adoption of firearms, human population growth, the creation of new settlements, hunter effort, and the speed at which animals recolonize hunted areas. Previous methods were also limited to assessing sustainability in a single settlement, but the models that I have developed predict wildlife population densities in space even when hunted by multiple settlements with overlapping hunting ranges and different human population sizes. My models also predict how human harvest rates change as wildlife are depleted, which has implications for the livelihoods of subsistence hunters. To make these methods accessible, I provide software-based tools, including a toolbox for ArcGIS, to assist in managing and mapping the spatial extent of hunting.
I have worked primarily with two large projects. The first is the People vs. Parks project in Manu National Park, Peru where I lived and worked with Matsigenka hunters to monitor hunting behavior and harvest. I recently joined Project Fauna in the Rupununni region of Guyana. Project fauna conducted ambitious wildlife sampling with the help of Macuxi and Wapishana Indians on a massive spatial scale. I use distance sampling and statistical models to assess how wildlife population densities relate to anthropogenic disturbance, such as hunting, versus natural variation in habitat and fruit availability.
Relevant Publications
Sabino-Santos Jr., G., Fernandes, F.F, da Silva, D.J.F., Melo, D.M., da Silva, S.G., São Bernardo, C.S., Filho, M.D.S., Levi, T., Figueiredo, L.T.M., Peres, C.A., Bronzoni, R.V.M, Canale, G.R. In review. Othohantavirus antibodies among phyllostomid bats from the arc of deforestation in Southern Amazonia, Brazil
Wolf, C., Levi, T., Ripple, W.J., Zárrate-Charry, D.A., Betts, M.G. In review. Forest loss within the world’s protected areas
Pedrosa, F., Bercê, W., Levi, T. Pires, M., Galetti, M. In revision. Invasive species promote critical seed dispersal services in defaunated landscapes
Pedrosa, F., Bercê, W., Costa, V.D., Levi, T., Galetti, M. In revision. Large scale agriculture is subsidizing the invasion of wild pigs in Brazil
Betts, M.G., Wolf, C., Ripple, B., Phalan, B., Millers, K., Duarte, A., Butchart, S., Levi, T. 2017. Global forest loss disproportionately erodes biodiversity in intact landscapes. Nature
Ripple, W.J., Chapron, G., Lopez-Bao, J.V., Durant, S.M., Macdonald, D.W., Lindsey, P.A., Bennett, E.L., Beschta, R.L., Bruskotter, J.T., Campos-Arceiz, A., Corlett, R.T., Darimont, C.T., Dickman, A.J., Dirzo, R., Dublin, H.T., Estes, J.A., Everatt, K.T., Galetti, M., Goswami,V.R., Hayward, M.W., Hedges, S., Hoffman, M., Hunter, L.T.B., Kerley, G.I.H., Letnic, M., Levi, T., Maisels, F., Morrison, J.C., Nelson, M.P., Newsome, T.M., Painter, L., Pringle, R.M., Sandom, C.J., Terborgh, J., Treves, A., Valkenburgh, B.V., Vucetich, J.A., Wirsing, A.J., Wallach, A.D., Wolf, C., Woodroffe, R., Young, H., Zhang, Li. 2016. Conserving the World’s Megafauna and Biodiversity: The Fierce Urgency of Now. Bioscience.
Ripple W.J., Abernethy, K., Chapron, G., Levi, T., Lindsey, P.A., Newsome, T.M., Peres, C.A., Wallach, A.D., Wolf, C. 2016. Are we eating the world’s mammals to extinction. Royal Society Open Science
Antunes, A.P., Fewster, R., Venticinque, E.M., Peres, C.A., Levi, T., Rohe, F., Shepard-Jr, G.H. 2016. Empty rivers rather than empty forests: a century of commercial hunting in Amazonia. Science Advances
Ripple, W.J., Chapron, G., Lopez-Bao, J.V., Durant, S.M., Macdonald, D.W., Lindsey, P.A., Bennett, E.L., Beschta, R.L., Bruskotter, J.T., Campos-Arceiz, A., Corlett, R.T., Darimont, C.T., Dickman, A.J., Dirzo, R., Dublin, H.T., Estes, J.A., Everatt, K.T., Galetti, M., Goswami,V.R., Hayward, M.W., Hedges, S., Hoffman, M., Hunter, L.T.B., Kerley, G.I.H., Letnic, M., Levi, T., Maisels, F., Morrison, J.C., Nelson, M.P., Newsome, T.M., Painter, L., Pringle, R.M., Sandom, C.J., Terborgh, J., Treves, A., Valkenburgh, B.V., Vucetich, J.A., Wirsing, A.J., Wallach, A.D., Wolf, C., Woodroffe, R., Young, H., Zhang, Li. 2016. Saving the world’s terrestrial megafauna. Bioscience. P.biw092
Fragoso, J.M.V., Levi, T., Oliveira, L.F.B., Luzar, J.B., Overman, H., Read, J.M., Silvius, K.M. 2016. Line transect surveys under detect terrestrial mammals: implications for the sustainability of subsistence hunting. PLoS ONE
Ripple, W.J., Newsome, T.M., Wolf, C., Dirzo, R., Everatt, K.T., Galetti, M., Hayward, M.W., Kerley, G.I.H., Levi, T., Lindsey, P.A., Macdonald, D.W., Malhi, Y., Painter, L.E., Sandom, C.J., Terborgh, J., Van Valkenburgh, B. 2015. Collapse of the World’s Largest Herbivores. Science Advances. 1(4): e1400103
Levi, T., Silvius, K.M., Oliveira, L.F.B, Fragoso, J.MV. 2013. Competition and facilitation in the capuchin-squirrel monkey relationship. Biotropica. doi:10.1111/btp.12046
Levi, T., Peres, C.A. 2013.Dispersal vacuum in the seedling recruitment of a primate-dispersed Amazonian tree. Biological Conservation. 163:99-106
Yu, D.W., Shepard, G.H., Ohl-Schacherer, J., Levi, T., 2013. Resolviendo el conflicto “parque-personas” en el Manu, con la estrategia “Ocupar la Amazonía”. Groenendijk, J., and A. Tovar editors. Reporte Manu: Pasión por la Investigación en la Amazonía Peruana. San Diego Zoo Global Peru y SERNANP. 466pp
Shepard, G.H., Levi, T., Neves, E., Peres, C.A., Yu, D.W. 2012.Hunting in ancient and modern Amazonia: Rethinking sustainability. American Anthropologist. 114(4)
Levi, T., Lu, F., Yu, D.W., Mangel, M. 2011. The behavior and diet breadth of central-place foragers: an application to human hunters and Neotropical game management. Evolutionary Ecology Research. 13:171-185.
Levi, T., Shepard, G. H. Jr., Ohl-Schacherer, J., Wilmers, C.C., Peres, C. A., D. W. Yu. 2010. Spatial tools for modeling the sustainability of subsistence hunting in tropical forests. Ecological Applications. 21: 1802–1818.
Yu, D. W., Levi, T. and Shepard, G. H. 2010. Conservation In Low-Governance Environments. Biotropica. 42: 569–571.
Levi, T., Shepard Jr., G.H., Ohl-Schacherer, J., Peres, C.A., Yu, D.W. 2009. Modeling the long-term sustainability of indigenous hunting in Manu National Park, Peru: Landscape-scale management implications for Amazonia. Journal of Applied Ecology 46: 804-814.
Ohl-Schacherer, J., Shepard, G. H. Jr., Kaplan, H., Peres, C. A., Levi, T., D. W. Yu. 2007. The sustainability of hunting by Matsigenka native communities in Manu National Park, Peru. Conservation Biology 21: 1174-1185.