Long-term fluctuations of white-lipped peccary populations in French Guiana

The white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) is a large ungulate species with an extensive distribution across South and Central America. As such, it is a key game species for forest communities throughout its range. It is also considered an "ecosystem engineer", having a significant impact on forest structure and function. The species has recently been upgraded to "vulnerable" owing to decreasing population trends. Many studies report evidence of strong population fluctuations, but data are lacking from long-term surveys. Our study documents population fluctuations in French Guiana based on both line transect and hunting monitoring in hundreds of sites across the country, over 15 consecutive years. Our results show that white-lipped peccary populations drastically decreased in French Guiana between 2000 and 2010, and that low-density periods have repeatedly occurred during the past decades. White-lipped peccaries were absent from the Nouragues Reserve during 4 years of camera trapping monitoring (2006-2010) and probably from most of the country. However, more recent data suggest that the species is becoming more common again in French Guiana, supporting the hypothesis of cyclic population fluctuations