Interweaving Scientific and Local Ecological Knowledge Through Studying the Salience of Wild Mammals in Two Protected Areas in the Monte Ecoregion of Argentina

Abstract

To increase conservation effectiveness in protected areas (PA) and restore biological and cultural diversity, it becomes essential to integrate different knowledge systems. A useful conceptual tool to combine local and scientific ecological knowledge is the multidimensional concept of cognitive salience of wildlife. We studied the cognitive salience of wild mammals for people living around two PA in the Monte ecoregion of Argentina: the Ischigualasto Provincial Park (IPP) and the Ñacuñán Biosphere Reserve (ÑBR). We analyzed how the cognitive salience of species (established through a freelisting and salience index) can be explained by ecological (measured through species occupancy models) and cultural (expressed as material cultural value index under the framework of nature contributions to people) aspects of salience. The cognitive salience of species had a positive correlation with the latent occupancy of mammals but was statistically significant only in the IPP. In the ÑBR, we did not find a strong link between salience index and latent occupancy, not even for those species occupying habitats close to people, such as Lycalopex gymnocercus, associated with sites outside the reserve, and Sus scrofa, preferring habitats near roads. Nevertheless, in both protected areas, the material cultural values related to the present and past use of mammals as food, medicine, ornaments, and for skin trade were relevant to explain the salience of mammals to local people.