Rainforest metropolis casts 1,000 km shadow on wildlife

Urban food demand in the Amazon could be hitting wildlife up to 1,000 km away from the city, according to new research. Rapid urbanization in the Brazilian Amazon means over 18 million people are now living in rainforest towns and cities but the impact of this demographic change on wildlife harvested for food, is largely unknown. In an attempt to find out more, researchers from Lancaster University went into rural communities in remote tropical wildernesses along the Purus River, a major Amazonian tributary, over a period of a year to gather evidence. Using tambaqui, a fish species highly prized by Amazonian consumers, as an example, they interviewed hundreds of rural Amazonians about their fishing activity along a heavily fished but otherwise relatively pristine river which flows towards Manaus - a city of over 2 million residents. All fishers were asked in detail about the catch, effort and catch methods of every fishing trip that they had undertaken in the three days prior to the interview. The data, published in the journal PNAS, revealed that the tambaqui fish became much smaller and harder to catch nearer to the rainforest metropolis. Amazonian fishers reported a 50% reduction in body size and catch rate as the river approached the city.