Home Range and Movement Pattern of the Broad-Snouted Caiman (Caiman latirostris) in a Silviculture Dominated Landscape

Marques, Thiago S.; Bassetti, Luís A. B.; Lara, Neliton R. F.; Portelinha, Thiago Costa Gonçalves; Piña, Carlos Ignácio; Verdade, Luciano Martins

doi:10.2994/sajh-d-18-00052.1

Cited by 9 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Aspects of crocodilian behavior and life history may account for the variation in the rate of encounters and the number of records between species in urban environments. As an example, C. latirostris, which has one of the largest latitudinal distributions among crocodilians (Coutinho et al 2013;Verdade and Piña 2007) and easily adapts to urban environments (Freitas-Filho 2008;Marques et al 2020), had the highest number of records in our study; and P. trigonatus, whose behavior is cryptic (Magnusson and Lima 1991), was the least recorded. Furthermore, crocodilians' behavioral patterns are often characterized by seasonality.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 50%

Conflicts between humans and crocodilians in urban areas across Brazil: a new approach to support management and conservation

Mascarenhas-Junior¹,

Maffei²,

Muniz³

et al. 2021

Ethnobio Conserv

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Crocodilian-human conflicts, caused especially by urban expansion and habitat destruction, have been considered one of the main threats to the conservation of these species worldwide. In Brazil, such conflicts have been documented with crocodilian species all over the country. This study identified 400 conflict events in on-line journalistic news between humans and caimans within Brazilian cities between 2016 and 2021. Caiman latirostris (57.3%) was the most common species found in large urban centers in the Northeastern and Southeastern regions. Most encounters in which the date was informed were registered in the wet season (64.5%), and the rescues were mainly carried out by the environmental military police and fire brigades. We outlined management protocols to be undertaken by environmental agencies during crocodilian rescues to minimize animal stress and risk of accidents. The increasingly common interaction between humans and caimans in urban environments is an important alert to envisage best conducts for the coexistence between people and caimans in Brazil and shows the need to invest in public policies to mitigate the negative effects of urbanization on wildlife.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 50%

Conflicts between humans and crocodilians in urban areas across Brazil: a new approach to support management and conservation

Mascarenhas-Junior¹,

Maffei²,

Muniz³

et al. 2021

Ethnobio Conserv

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, the selected buffer size corresponds to ca. 28.27 km 2 , about ten times the upper limit of caiman home ranges (Ouboter & Nanhoe, 1988; Campos et al ., 2006; Caut et al ., 2019; Marques et al ., 2020b), stressing the importance of landscape features over large spatial scales upon caiman body condition. The highest values of the patch cohesion index indicate homogeneous landscapes with water predominance (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, we created circular buffer areas with 500‐m, 1‐km and 3‐km radii centered at each capture point to calculate landscape metrics for characterization, assessment and measurement of human‐modified landscapes. Based on home range studies that estimated caiman home ranges between 0.048 and 3.5 km 2 , we considered buffer zones as a utilization area of caimans (Ouboter & Nanhoe, 1988; Campos et al ., 2006; Caut et al ., 2019; Marques et al ., 2020b).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape features affect caiman body condition in the middle Araguaia River floodplain

Pereira

Colli

2022

Animal Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Landscape modifications often undermine habitat suitability for species’ persistence, with initial effects observed through the physiological responses of individuals and populations. However, some landscape features can allow tolerant wildlife species to persist in human‐modified landscapes, but they are still overlooked. Across distinct agricultural landscapes, we assessed landscape features affecting the body condition (estimate through scaled mass index ‐ SMI) of Caiman crocodilus (Crocodylia, Alligatoridae) in human‐modified landscapes of the Araguaia floodplain, central Brazil. We used a spatial Bayesian model averaging approach to determine the effects of landscape attributes, ectoparasites, tail damage and severe body injuries on caiman body condition. We found that caimans had higher SMI in anthropogenic (ditches and artificial ponds) than natural habitats (lakes or rivers). Overall, caiman SMI was negatively associated with wetland cohesion (an aggregation and connectivity metric). Otherwise, landscape composition did not influence caiman SMI. Further, ectoparasites and body injuries did not affect SMI, whereas tail damage negatively affected SMI. Our findings underscore that caiman populations can adapt to artificial wetlands and irrigated rice fields, provided they incorporate natural and semi‐natural habitat patches that enhance environmental heterogeneity, prey availability, and waterbody availability and connectivity.

show abstract

“…In that period (dry season), the habitats are isolated and distributed across the agricultural landscape, but they interconnect during the wet season. Such hydrologic dynamic facilitates caimans to make seasonal and ontogenetic movements among terrestrial and aquatic habitats, with recorded mean distances <10 km over 1 year ( Campos et al, 2006 ; Ouboter & Nanhoe, 1988 ), but they have small home ranges estimated between 0.048 and 3.5 km 2 ( Campos et al, 2006 ; Caut et al, 2019 ; Marioni et al, 2022 ; Marques et al, 2020b ; Ouboter & Nanhoe, 1988 ). Moreover, July probably coincides with the early period of reproduction (mating period) of crocodilians in central Brazil, which is poorly known ( Andrade & Coutinho, 2009 ), but in Amazonia the nesting period occurs in September-December ( Marioni, Von Muhlen & Da Silveira, 2007 ; Villamarín et al, 2011 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The trophic niche of crocodilians is influenced by several factors, including: ontogeny, as hatchlings feed primarily on aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate prey, juveniles increment smaller fishes and vertebrates in the diet, and adults consume more large vertebrates and fishes; flood pulse seasonality due to the high proportion of invertebrates in the wet season changing to a prevalence of fishes in the dry season ( Da Silveira & Magnusson, 1999 ; Magnusson, Da Silva & Lima, 1987 ; Thorbjarnarson, 1997 ; Thorbjarnarson, 1993 ); and sex due to sexual differences in habitat use and foraging area in the breeding period ( Barão-Nóbrega et al, 2016 ; Villamarín et al, 2011 ). Moreover, crocodilians take advantage of artificial or disturbed waterbodies, demonstrating ecological adaptability and resilience to persist in agricultural landscapes ( Borteiro et al, 2008 ; Marques et al, 2020b ; Pereira & Colli, 2022 ). Therefore, crocodilians are model organisms to detect and investigate the effects of human disturbance on the food web and assess the role of intraspecific trait variation on trophic dynamics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sources of intraspecific variation in the isotopic niche of a semi-aquatic predator in a human-modified landscape

Pereira,

Nardoto,

Colli

2023

PeerJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Intraspecific variation modulates patterns of resource use by species, potentially affecting the structure and stability of food webs. In human-modified landscapes, habitat disturbance modifies trophic interactions and intraspecific niche variation, impacting population persistence. Here, we investigated the relationship of sex, ontogeny, and habitat factors with the trophic niche of Caiman crocodilus in an agricultural landscape. We evaluated temporal variation in the trophic niche parameters using carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis from different body tissues. We found that caimans exploit the same carbon and nitrogen pools through time, with low isotopic variability between seasons, partly due to the slow isotope turnover rates of tissues in crocodilians. Conversely, the trophic niche of caimans varied across habitats, but with no evidence of a difference between natural and anthropogenic habitats. It apparently results from the influence of habitat suitability, connectivity, and caiman movements during the foraging. Our findings highlight the broader niches of juvenile caimans relative to adults, possibly in response of territorialism and opportunistic foraging strategy. Although using similar resources, females had a larger niche than males, probably associated with foraging strategies during nesting. Considering the sex and body size categories, caimans occupied distinct isotopic regions in some habitats, indicating apparent niche segregation. Ontogenetic trophic shifts in the isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) depended on sex, leading to resource partitioning that can potentially reduce intraspecific competition. Decision-makers and stakeholders should consider the trophic dynamics of sex and body size groups for the sustainable management and conservation of caiman populations, which implies in the maintenance of wetland habitats and landscape heterogeneity in the Formoso River floodplain.

show abstract

Home Range and Movement Pattern of the Broad-Snouted Caiman (Caiman latirostris) in a Silviculture Dominated Landscape

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 9 publications

References 40 publications

Conflicts between humans and crocodilians in urban areas across Brazil: a new approach to support management and conservation

Conflicts between humans and crocodilians in urban areas across Brazil: a new approach to support management and conservation

Landscape features affect caiman body condition in the middle Araguaia River floodplain

Sources of intraspecific variation in the isotopic niche of a semi-aquatic predator in a human-modified landscape

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About