Protected areas effectiveness in maintaining viable giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) populations in an agricultural frontier

Abstract

The protected areas are essential for the conservation of native biota. However, only the protected area establishment does not guarantee the persistence of threatened species. Here, we assessed the efficiency of the Cerrado protected areas in maintaining viable populations of giant anteater and analyzed the impact of roadkills. We used the software VORTEX to model the viability of giant anteater populations in 18 Cerrado protected areas. We evaluated the impact of roadkills through three mortality scenarios (2.5%, 5% and 10% of the initial population). Our results show that in the pessimistic scenario, only three protected areas are able to maintain viable populations of the giant anteater. In the optimistic scenario, 11 protected areas out of the 18 protected areas are capable of maintaining viable giant anteater populations in the next 100 years. Three protected areas are not able to maintain viable populations in any scenario. The roadkills have had a major negative impact on the long-term persistence of giant anteater populations. We suggest that management actions to counteract the negative effects of roadkills are necessary to maintain populations of giant anteater in protected areas affected by this threat.