TECHNICAL PAPER SERIES
Authors: Alona Sankar1 and Patrick Chesney2
1Commisisoner, Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission, Ganges Street, Sophia, Georgetown, Guyana; 2Independent Consultant, PO Box 101521, Georgetown, Guyana.
Abstract: During January to July 2021, field populations of Psittacines distributed across known trapping sites in Guyana were assessed for abundance and distribution, public consultations with key stakeholders on psittacine management planning and pet management were held and a psittacine pet registration module (PPRM) was developed, all to strengthen the sustainable management and traceability mechanism for psittacines in Guyana. Amazonica amazonica had the highest relative abundance across all ecological zones (0.311) followed by Pionus menstruus (0.238) and P. melanocephalus (0.096). No other species had a relative abundance greater than 0.07. Psittacine species richness of the ecological zones ranged from 6 to 11 however, the zones had similar species diversity of psittacines as measured using the Shannon Diversity Index. Approximately 30% of the species observed were found at all ecological zones. For prudent management the trade of these species may continue at the current rate provided that offtake and natural populations are carefully monitored. The Psittacine Management Plan should provide for the establishment of annual monitoring of all psittacine species in the trade utilizing distance sampling methods and the involvement of local communities. Trappers, traders and owners of psittacine pets have access to information on the care and management of the birds in captivity and the registration of pets using an online PPRM, that is a part of the Domestic Licence Management System for wildlife in Guyana.
Keywords: assessment, administrative regions, macaws, management planning, parrots, pets, registration.
Read the full article GUYANA – Technical Article – Guyana Psittacines_Bioamazon Newsletter – n10 – Jul-Ago 2021
Published in Boletim Bioamazônia, issue 10, July-August 2021.
========================================================================
