Baby peccary. Agroforestry biodiversity monitoring
Ya’axché Conservation Trust
Continuous biodiversity monitoring
Ya’axché’s Protected Areas Management program conducts monitoring of bird and mammal species within the concession to track wildlife ecosystem health and inform decision making within the concession.
Through Ya’axché’s Protected Areas Management program, regular monitoring of bird/mammal species are conducted through camera trapping and point counts from Ya’axché rangers.
Monitoring is essential to determine whether the agroforestry concession is able to support wildlife and biodiversity. A short pilot study was conducted in 2016 as a first attempt at documenting biodiversity within cacao-based agro-forestry farms. Five cacao farms were chosen. Fifteen out of 31 species of indicator birds were documented within the farms. Fourteen species of mammals of which six species are considered indicator species were documented through the camera traps. This shows that agro-forestry supports a diverse array of wildlife species within the reserve.