Space Use and Movement of a Neotropical Top Predator: The Endangered Jaguar

Abstract

Accurately estimating home range and understanding movement behavior can provide important information on ecological processes. Advances in data collection and analysis have improved our ability to estimate home range and movement parameters, both of which have the potential to impact species conservation. Fitting continuous-time movement model to data and incorporating the autocorrelated kernel density estimator (AKDE), we investigated range residency of forty-four jaguars fit with GPS collars across five biomes in Brazil and Argentina. We assessed home range and movement parameters of range resident animals and compared AKDE estimates with kernel density estimates (KDE). We accounted for differential space use and movement among individuals, sex, region, and habitat quality. Thirty-three (80%) of collared jaguars were range resident. Home range estimates using AKDE were 1.02 to 4.80 times larger than KDE estimates that did not consider autocorrelation. Males exhibited larger home ranges, more directional movement paths, and a trend towards larger distances traveled per day. Jaguars with the largest home ranges occupied the Atlantic Forest, a biome with high levels of deforestation and high human population density. Our results fill a gap in the knowledge of the species’ ecology with an aim towards better conservation of this endangered/critically endangered carnivore—the top predator in the Neotropics.

A comprehensive analysis of autocorrelation and bias in home range estimation

“…, Morato et al. , Fleming and Calabrese ). We therefore strongly recommend starting with visual verification of range residency in each tracking data set via variogram analysis (Fleming et al.…”

“…, Morato et al. ), while data from migratory, or non‐range resident individuals were excluded. To provide an accurate depiction of how home range estimators might be expected to perform in practice, we did not use habitat features (e.g., rivers, cliffs, fences, and other landforms) that may have impacted movement as a selection criteria.…”

“…, Morato et al. ). All else being equal, the shorter the time interval between samples, the more the autocorrelation structure of a particular movement path will be revealed, and the characteristic time scales over which autocorrelations decay can vary by target quantity, species, and individual (Fleming et al.…”

Co‐declining mammal–dung beetle faunas throughout the Atlantic Forest biome of South America

“…Eira babara, Puma yagouaroundi and Cerdocyon thous; body mass: 3-10 kg) showed average home ranges of 8.7 km 2 in the Atlantic Forest (Michalski et al 2006). Jaguars Panthera onca (61-158 kg (Paglia et al 2012)) travel 15.2 km d -1 in the Paraguayan Dry Chaco, Humid Chaco and Pantanal (McBride and Thompson 2018) and 12.6 km d -1 in the Atlantic Forest (Morato et al 2016). Jaguars Panthera onca (61-158 kg (Paglia et al 2012)) travel 15.2 km d -1 in the Paraguayan Dry Chaco, Humid Chaco and Pantanal (McBride and Thompson 2018) and 12.6 km d -1 in the Atlantic Forest (Morato et al 2016).…”

No Extinction (NEX):

“…Dessa forma, segundo a bióloga, os resultados da pesquisa poderiam fomentar a revisão do PAN. (MORATO et al, 2016). O estudo analisou as áreas de vida e padrões de movimento das onças-pintadas, com base em dados coletados, entre 1998 e 2016, por meio de rastreamento por GPS de 44 animais em cinco biomas (Amazônia, Pantanal, Cerrado, Mata Atlântica e Caatinga) no Brasil e na Argentina.…”