FOREST AND RAINFOREST QUAIL. CHALLENGES OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION

Abstract

Quail that live in forests and rainforests are a good model for analyzing the challenges posed by both the management and the conservation of wildlife, due to their close dependence upon these ecosystems. Government policies for the exploitation and protection of the natural resources have an impact on the conditions in which the vegetation is maintained as a habitat. In the present paper we examine these factors and their potential influence on these birds, in the form of a case study. The Management Units for the Conservation of Wildlife (UMAs, Spanish acronym) are especially important, as they represent a progress with respect to the prior, purely cynegetic approaches because they intend to promote reassessment of natural resources, productive diversification, and the participation of the landowners in these two endeavors. However, this model continues to be controversial and entails serious implementation issues due to a lack of scientific rigor in the monitoring of the populations to be exploited. Generally speaking the main challenge is to maintain the habitat through the preservation of the tree vegetation. This involves the inclusion of sustainable practices in the application of forest management methods that take into account both the needs of the fauna and the reduction of deforestation rates. Forest quail warrant a greater interest and attention because the understanding of their biology and ecology is very limited.