Activity patterns of jaguars and pumas and their relationship to those of their potential prey in the Brazilian Pantanal

Porfírio, Grasiela Edith de Oliveira; Sarmento, Pedro; Foster, Vania Cristina; Fonseca, Carlos

doi:10.1515/mammalia-2015-0175

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…We assessed the daily activity of pumas and their prey within a well-preserved Andean Forest in which other large predators such as jaguars (Panthera onca, Linnaeus 1758) are absent. Pumas showed a nocturnal and crepuscular activity that is geographically consistent with studies made in other Neotropical areas (Scognamillo et al, 2003;Monroy-Vilchis et al, 2009;Harmsen et al, 2009;Blake et al, 2012;Foster et al, 2013;Zanón Martínez et al, 2016;Cáceres-Martínez et al, 2016;Porfirio et al, 2017;Azevedo et al, 2018;Guerisoli et al, 2019;Osorio et al, 2020). Therefore, factors other than habitat features (such as human disturbance and prey availability) may more likely drivers of the puma's activity patterns (Harmsen et al, 2011;Suraci et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Daily activity pattern of pumas (Puma concolor) and their potential prey in a tropical cloud forest of Colombia

Cepeda-Duque

Gómez‐Valencia

Álvarez³

et al. 2021

Anim. Biodiv. Conserv.

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Ecosystems in the northern Andes face unprecedented habitat loss. Pumas are the top predators in the region and exert key ecological functions, such as population control and resource facilitation. However, little is known about the temporal niche of the species or its effects on behaviour of prey in the tropics. We hypothesized that there is a link between the activity patterns of pumas and their prey in a cloud forest of the Central Andes of Colombia. We installed 61 camera traps to estimate the degree of overlap between the daily activity curves of pumas and seven potential prey species, using conditional kernel density functions. Pumas, armadillos, mountain pacas, and white–eared opossums were mainly nocturnal, with little crepuscular activity and high temporal overlap. Central American agouti, mountain coati, little red brocket deer, and Cauca guan displayed a predominantly diurnal activity and temporal partitioning with pumas. As opportunistic predators, pumas were able to maximize foraging efficiency by preying on the crepuscular and nocturnal species. Conservation of this highland predator will largely depend on the suitable management of its native prey.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Daily activity pattern of pumas (Puma concolor) and their potential prey in a tropical cloud forest of Colombia

Cepeda-Duque

Gómez‐Valencia

Álvarez³

et al. 2021

Anim. Biodiv. Conserv.

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“…As opportunistic predators, jaguars and pumas feed on a large variety of prey, but they mainly consume medium to large-sized prey (Emmons, 1987;Taber et al, 1997;Núñez et al, 2000;Monroy-Vilchis et al, 2009). Some studies have suggested that the activity patterns of these large felids may be determined by those of their main prey (Harmsen et al, 2011;Foster et al, 2013;Porfirio et al, 2017). The Southern Coati followed the diurnal pattern observed in another area of the Pantanal (Bianchi et al, 2016).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Camera traps as a tool for Carnivore conservation in a mosaic of Protected Areas in the Pantanal wetlands, Brazil

Porfírio¹,

Foster²,

Sarmento³

et al. 2018

Nat. Cons. Res.

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Although known globally for its biodiversity, only around 5% of the Brazilian Pantanal is protected. The Network for Protection and Conservation of Amolar Mountain Ridge is an informal initiative that legally protects over 2000 km 2 of the Pantanal biome. Several camera-trapping surveys were carried out at Amolar Mountain Ridge from August 2011 to September 2013 in order to increase our knowledge of the species occurrence and its ecological requirements. The aims of this study were : 1) to inventory the carnivore species occurring within this network of protected areas; 2) to describe their activity patterns and 3) to discuss threats for those species' conservation in the region. We used the Kernel density method to describe the species' activity patterns. We obtained 764 records (from 12703 camera-days) of eight carnivores, including endangered species in Brazil, such as the jaguar (Panthera onca), puma (Puma concolor), and ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), that were among the most frequently recorded by camera traps. The other species detected were the South America coati (Nasua nasua), the tayra (Eira barbara), the crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus) and the jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi). We provided information on activity patterns of the jaguar and puma, which exhibited cathemeral activity patterns, on the ocelot and crab-eating fox, which were mostly nocturnal, and on the Southern coati and jaguarundi, which were diurnal. Scansorial and species that occur naturally in low densities as the tayra and the crab-eating raccoon were difficult to be detected with the used camera trapping setting. However, due to the natural characteristics of the study area, camera trapping is among the most appropriate tools for providing data about carnivores and their prey. This information is essential to delineate conservation plans for Amolar Mountain Ridge.

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“…Jaguar and puma are able to adjust their activity to reduce their foraging energy expenditure, by matching their activity to that of their main prey species [ 30 , 67 ]. We cannot rule out the option that prey abundance and some other habitat characteristics affects temporal activity [ 29 ], and consequently temporal partitioning between apex predators.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is mainly due to the difficulty in obtaining data across broad spatial scales required to study these ecological processes, as well as sufficient records of species that frequently occur at low densities and/or exhibit elusive behavior. Most studies discuss species interactions at local scales (e.g.,[ 11 , 15 , 30 ]), but how predators change their behavior as they move through heterogeneous landscapes remains largely unexplored. Conducting multi-site comparisons of spatial distributions and activity budgets of co-existing wild cats will be important to improve understanding of mechanisms of coexistence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prey availability and temporal partitioning modulate felid coexistence in Neotropical forests

et al. 2019

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Carnivores have long been used as model organisms to examine mechanisms that allow coexistence among ecologically similar species. Interactions between carnivores, including competition and predation, comprise important processes regulating local community structure and diversity. We use data from an intensive camera-trapping monitoring program across eight Neotropical forest sites to describe the patterns of spatiotemporal organization of a guild of five sympatric cat species: jaguar (Panthera onca), puma (Puma concolor), ocelot (Leopardus pardalis), jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) and margay (Leopardus wiedii). For the three largest cat species, we developed multi-stage occupancy models accounting for habitat characteristics (landscape complexity and prey availability) and models accounting for species interactions (occupancy estimates of potential competitor cat species). Patterns of habitat-use were best explained by prey availability, rather than habitat structure or species interactions, with no evidence of negative associations of jaguar on puma and ocelot occupancy or puma on ocelot occupancy. We further explore temporal activity patterns and overlap of all five felid species. We observed a moderate temporal overlap between jaguar, puma and ocelot, with differences in their activity peaks, whereas higher temporal partitioning was observed between jaguarundi and both ocelot and margay. Lastly, we conducted temporal overlap analysis and calculated species activity levels across study sites to explore if shifts in daily activity within species can be explained by varying levels of local competition pressure. Activity patterns of ocelots, jaguarundis and margays were similarly bimodal across sites, but pumas exhibited irregular activity patterns, most likely as a response to jaguar activity. Activity levels were similar among sites and observed differences were unrelated to competition or intraguild killing risk. Our study reveals apparent spatial and temporal partitioning for most of the species pairs analyzed, with prey abundance being more important than species interactions in governing the local occurrence and spatial distribution of Neotropical forest felids.

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Activity patterns of jaguars and pumas and their relationship to those of their potential prey in the Brazilian Pantanal

Cited by 20 publications

References 17 publications

Daily activity pattern of pumas (Puma concolor) and their potential prey in a tropical cloud forest of Colombia

Daily activity pattern of pumas (Puma concolor) and their potential prey in a tropical cloud forest of Colombia

Camera traps as a tool for Carnivore conservation in a mosaic of Protected Areas in the Pantanal wetlands, Brazil

Prey availability and temporal partitioning modulate felid coexistence in Neotropical forests

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