Mapping major types of hunting across the South American Dry Chaco and Chiquitano forests

Abstract Hunting is a central, culturally embedded relationship between people and nature, yet also drives wildlife declines with far‐reaching consequences for ecosystems and people. It is also a highly diverse practice, involving a wide range of actors and hunting techniques, both of which determine the social‐ecological impacts of hunting. However, the geography of different types of hunting remains unclear, constituting a barrier for conservation and sustainability planning. Here, we develop an approach to identify and map key types of hunting across the vast Dry Chaco and Chiquitano tropical dry forests (950,826 km 2 ). We use a structured literature review and expert elicitation to identify key types of hunting and link these to a typology of land systems to map the spatial footprints of hunting types and how they changed between 1985 and 2023. We identify four major hunting types– traditional, retaliatory, commercial and recreational hunting – each associated with specific actors, practices and socio‐ecological contexts. All hunting types were widespread, with large areas associated with multiple, overlapping hunting types. The spatial footprints of hunting types, as captured by our land systems, increased considerably over time, particularly for retaliatory hunting (+54.6%), recreational hunting (+46.8%), and commercial hunting (+32.7%). Traditional hunting had historically increased less (+20.6%) and declined recently. By conceptualising hunting as a diverse socio‐ecological phenomenon rather than a uniform threat, we show how different hunting types are geographically distributed, interact and vary as landscapes change due to land‐use change. Our land‐system‐based approach thus provides a useful tool for better representing the social‐ecological diversity of hunting in sustainability planning and policy at broad geographic extents. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Publication Details

Journal
People and Nature
Published
2026-11-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70474
Primary Topic
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Mapping major types of hunting across the South American Dry Chaco and Chiquitano forests

Alfredo Romero‐Muñoz, Marie Pratzer, Verónica Andrea Quiroga, Matthias Baumann et al.
People and Nature
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
article

Mapping major types of hunting across the South American Dry Chaco and Chiquitano forests

Alfredo Romero‐Muñoz, Marie Pratzer, Verónica Andrea Quiroga, Matthias Baumann, Cecilia Trillo, Ricardo M. Torres, Andrea M. Neme, Daniela María Tamburini, Hugo del Castillo, Julia Martínez Pardo, Jessica Manzano-García, Julieta Decarre, Tobias Kuemmerle, Yamil Edgardo Di Blanco, Matías E. Mastrángelo, Ana Sofía Nanni, Melina Faingerch, Micaela Camino, Oswaldo Maillard Z., Jamie Burton, Frederick Bauer, Thiago Costa, Emilia Sago Herrador, Viviana Rojas Bonzi
article en

Abstract

Abstract Hunting is a central, culturally embedded relationship between people and nature, yet also drives wildlife declines with far‐reaching consequences for ecosystems and people. It is also a highly diverse practice, involving a wide range of actors and hunting techniques, both of which determine the social‐ecological impacts of hunting. However, the geography of different types of hunting remains unclear, constituting a barrier for conservation and sustainability planning. Here, we develop an approach to identify and map key types of hunting across the vast Dry Chaco and Chiquitano tropical dry forests (950,826 km 2 ). We use a structured literature review and expert elicitation to identify key types of hunting and link these to a typology of land systems to map the spatial footprints of hunting types and how they changed between 1985 and 2023. We identify four major hunting types– traditional, retaliatory, commercial and recreational hunting – each associated with specific actors, practices and socio‐ecological contexts. All hunting types were widespread, with large areas associated with multiple, overlapping hunting types. The spatial footprints of hunting types, as captured by our land systems, increased considerably over time, particularly for retaliatory hunting (+54.6%), recreational hunting (+46.8%), and commercial hunting (+32.7%). Traditional hunting had historically increased less (+20.6%) and declined recently. By conceptualising hunting as a diverse socio‐ecological phenomenon rather than a uniform threat, we show how different hunting types are geographically distributed, interact and vary as landscapes change due to land‐use change. Our land‐system‐based approach thus provides a useful tool for better representing the social‐ecological diversity of hunting in sustainability planning and policy at broad geographic extents. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

People and Nature
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (BR), National University of Tucumán (AR), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (AR), National University of Misiones (AR), National University of Mar del Plata (AR), National University of General San Martín (AR), National University of Catamarca (AR), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE), Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (AO), Guyra Paraguay (PY), Instituto de Biología Subtropical (AR), Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (AR), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (BR), Instituto de Física del Litoral (AR), Fundación para la Conservación del Bosque Chiquitano (BO)
Openalex Percentile: Top 19%
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
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