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Articles

Vol. 19 No. 26 (2010)

Sugarcane Pre-harvest Burning: A Threat to Megafaunal Conservation in Brazil?

Submitted
9 July 2025
Published
2010-06-01

Abstract

The Lowland tapir, Tapirus terrestris, listed as vulnerable in the IUCN red list (2009), and classified in section II by the CITES (2009), is scarce in many regions of Brazil. Although this species is not included in the threatened species list of the IBAMA, it is reported in six of seven Brazilian state lists of animals threatened with extinction. This specie situation is principally due to habitat loss and poaching (IUCN 2009). Since the Lowland tapir may be considered a keystone species because of its role of seed-disperser, its extirpation from a forest ecosystem may potentially have a subtantial impact on the recruitment dynamics of some vegetal species.

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