Non-invasive genetic sampling reveals diet shifts, but little difference in endoparasite richness and faecal glucocorticoids, in Belizean felids inside and outside protected areas

Abstract

Abstract:Many Neotropical felids are threatened with extinction due to direct effects of habitat destruction and/or human persecution. However, indirect and synergistic effects of human-felid conflict remain under-studied and potentially include increased stress and diet shifts that may negatively impact felid health. We hypothesized that faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM) and endoparasite species richness (ESR) would be higher, and diet would shift, for felids outside protected areas where conflict occurs. In north-western Belize, a scat-detector dog located 336 faecal samples, identified to species and individual using DNA analyses. DNA amplification success was substantially higher within protected areas than outside. We detected jaguar, puma, ocelot, jaguarundi and domestic cat. FGMs were higher in puma and jaguarundi than in other felids, while ESR was similar across felids with domestic cats exhibiting the highest number of genera. Diet partitioning occurred among felids, but domestic cats may compete with ocelot and jaguarundi for small prey. Outside of protected areas, large cats shifted their diet to smaller prey and livestock remains were not found. Contrary to our hypotheses, FGM and ESR did not differ inside versus outside protected areas, but sample sizes were low in human-modified areas. We provide a baseline on wild felid adrenal activity, endoparasites and diet and suggest improvements to increase sample sizes outside protected areas. Our research provides a template for expanding non-invasive sampling approaches more widely across the range of Neotropical felids.

Intrinsic factors, adrenal gland morphology, and disease burden in captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) in South Africa

“…Studies in captive wild felids are focused largely on the effect of stress on behavior and reproductive parameters, since many species are endangered, breed poorly in captivity, and are thought to be highly susceptible to extrinsic factors such as stress [Graham and Brown, ; Wielebnowski et al, ; Terio et al, ; Brown, ; Moreira et al, ; Newell‐Fugate et al, ; Conforti et al, ; DeCaluwe et al, ]. The stress response in Felidae differs considerably between species and between individuals within a species [Wildt et al, , ; Graham and Brown, ; Terio et al, ; Mesa‐Cruz et al, ].…”

Human disturbance and the activity patterns and temporal overlap of tapirs and jaguars in reserves of NW Belize

“…Disturbance‐effects research should investigate how the health and physiological condition of tapirs and jaguars vary with any deviation from the animal's activity pattern, such as the increased nocturnality of jaguars associated with high human traffic in YB. Previous researchers have established methods for field collection and measurement of fecal glucocorticoids in jaguars (Mesa‐Cruz, Brown, Waits, & Kelly, 2016) and equids (Yarnell & Walker, 2017), and such research could be expanded to further investigate stress responses of jaguars and tapirs to human disturbances.…”

Feeding ecological knowledge: the underutilised power of faecal DNA approaches for carnivore diet analysis

“…Also, using gNIS for individual identification from scats, Mesa‐Cruz et al. () divided the population of Belizean large felids into two groups according to their location, and found that diets shifted towards smaller prey outside protected areas. These advances currently allow researchers, for instance, to use non‐invasive methods to test the Niche Variation Hypothesis (Van Valen ), which postulates that under conditions of reduced interspecific competition, a population expands its niche mostly through inter‐individual variation.…”