Spatiotemporal dynamics of conspecific movement explain a solitary carnivore's space use

Abstract

Patterns of space use by an individual emerge as a result of their movements, and their decisions of when and where to move are related to the distribution of resources needed for their survival and reproduction. Solitary species are characterized by limited social interaction with conspecifics, moving independently or maintaining a spatiotemporal avoidance of them, except during courtship or parental care. The present study aimed to analyze the effect of various factors on space use by jaguars (Panthera onca) in the Pantanal of Brazil. We used step selection functions (SSF) to evaluate the effect of the tendency to return to the home‐range center (HRC), habitat, time of day and distance to conspecifics on jaguars’ space use. Five jaguars with partially overlapping home ranges were simultaneously monitored using global positioning system collars. The results indicate that the main factors guiding individual movement are the spatiotemporal movements of conspecifics, differences in HRC between sexes, and the variations in habitat type throughout the day. Tracked females presented strong HRC, limiting their movements to the vicinity of their HRC, while the single tracked male did not. The habitat varies throughout the day, according to daily activities; forest and water bodies were selected all day long, but especially at night, when the species is more active and hunting. Tracked male and females selected areas that maximized the likelihood of encountering a female, but females avoided areas with a likelihood of encountering the single tracked male. Our findings allowed us to propose the solitary species’ space use, highlighting the relevance of including conspecifics as factors in the selection or avoidance of determined areas.

Range-wide factors shaping space use and movements by the Neotropic’s flagship predator: the jaguar

“…Our data set and analysis is the largest to date on the movement ecology of the jaguar, or for any large felid, spanning its complete extant range from its southernmost limits in the province of Misiones, Argentina to its northernmost extent in the state of Sonora, Mexico representing the spectrum of habitat types that jaguars inhabit, including dry and humid forest and wetlands, and varying levels of anthropogenic transformation. We corroborated prior research documenting that the anthropogenic and environmental factors affecting jaguar space use and movement at local and regional scales (14,18,19) act similarly across ecoregions, continents, and range-wide to affect jaguar space use and movements, demonstrating that jaguars perceive their environment similarly, regardless of geographic location or habitat type. In doing so, we provide a set of landscape metrics and a mechanism to evaluate jaguar habitat quality throughout the species' range, facilitating transboundary conservation planning among jaguar range states, which is of significance as the range-wide conservation vision for the jaguar is based upon international collaboration and trans-boundary decision making to maintain connectivity among core jaguar populations (Jaguar Conservation Units) (9).…”

“…Additionally, jaguar movement within home ranges (speed, autocorrelation timescale, home range crossing time) was independent of home range size and instead related to a different suite of factors which did not include anthropogenic covariates. This indicates that decisions about movement at the relatively short sampling scale of our data (generally 1hours) were most dependent upon environmental factors and that jaguars adjust their behavior to account for anthropogenic factors (14,18,19).…”

“…Given individual-level fine scale movement decisions by jaguar (19,21) the lack of clear relationships among movement parameters and the landscape factors we evaluated is not unexpected and points to a need for analyses of localized, fine-scale movement decisions by jaguars across its range.…”

“…For each home range area we derived the 1) mean percent forest cover, 2) mean percent area in forest, 3) mean forest patch area, 4) perimeter:area ratio of forest patches, 5) density of forest edge, 6) percent protected area, 7) mean annual precipitation, 8) mean seasonality in precipitation, 9) mean net primary productivity, 10) mean human population density, 11) mean Human Footprint Index, 12) mean cattle density, and 13) primary road density (Table S5). Additionally, we included sex as a covariate based upon exploratory analysis of the data and that sex-based differences in jaguar movements have been illustrated (15,16,19), while we also considered the effect of body mass as it has been shown to be a factor associated with jaguar distribution (10).…”

“…The distribution of the jaguar is associated with both environmental and anthropic factors (10), and while the drivers of home range size and resource selection have been confined to individual ecoregions (11)(12)(13), or across ecoregions (14)(15)(16)(17), demonstrating relationships with environmental and anthropogenic factors (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) and sex (15,16,19), there have been no rangewide comparative studies of jaguar space use. Since home range size is critical in determining density and ultimately abundance (20), the conspicuous lack of range-wide analyses of jaguar space use is of concern as conservation initiatives for the jaguar are range-wide in scope, involving 18 range countries.…”