Abstract:
Baird’s Tapir (Tapirus bairdii) survives in the
San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor, a mosaic
of fragmented forest habitats that maintain the ecological
connectivity between the lowland rain forest
ecosystem of Southeastern Nicaragua and Northern
Costa Rica with Costa Rican montane forests. This
corridor totals more than one million hectares of
protected areas in different degrees of conservation.
Evidence of tapir presence in the corridor has been
observed during the last eight years, but the status
of this species in the area remains largely unknown,
leading us to conduct a habitat viability assessment
based on our knowledge of the area and on information
about Baird’s Tapir in similar ecosystems.
We used GIS data, measuring seven ecological parameters
that allowed us to characterize the availability
of habitat for Baird’s Tapir in the San Juan-La
Selva Biological Corridor. We estimated the number
of tapirs to range from 69 to 208 individuals. Our
methods exemplify an inexpensive means to assess
Tapir’s habitat viability where there is substantial
and reliable georeferenced data about the ecosystems
present in the study area.
