Unravelling the drivers of maned wolf activity along an elevational gradient in the Atlantic Forest, south-eastern Brazil

Abstract

The maned wolf, the largest canid in South America, was originally distributed in areas with open natural vegetation in the Cerrado biome, Chaco and Pampas regions. The dynamics of its distribution are however in flux, with populations declining at the southern limit of its distribution, and areas of apparent range expansion in Brazil. Although the maned wolf's overall distribution is well documented, little is known about its smallest-scale landscape use. Here we used a novel approach, characterising "favourable territories" for maned wolves using presence data and information on daily movement capacity. In this way, we used favourability distribution models to relate local landscape use by maned wolves to environmental drivers in the Serra da Mantiqueira, part of the core of the species distribution. Our results showed that the favourablity of territories for maned wolf activity increases with altitude, and with the proportion of coverage of upper montane vegetation refuges and of open habitats such as agricultural fields. Our results also show that the configuration of the environment with respect to topography is an important driver of the favourability of the landscape for maned wolf activity. Finally, we identified some human-wildlife conflicts in the surroundings of the protected area which could increase with increasing maned wolf populations. In conclusion, our results support the importance of maintaining the integrity of high-altitude open areas in the conservation of maned wolf habitat and provide useful data for maned wolf management at the core of its global current distribution. We highlight that this is the first study to use fuzzy logic tools at the local scale to analyze the favourability of territories for maned wolf activity in a highly favourable region along an elevational gradient.

Unravelling negative interactions between humans, mammalian carnivores and raptors in South America

“…Ecología Austral 32:620-637 and Merino 2008;Silva-Rodríguez et al 2009;García-Olaechea and Hurtado 2018;Aximoff et al 2020;Bickley et al 2020). In particular foxes, but also other mammalian predators, are frequently involved in severe negative interaction with humans, especially in association with predation on goats, sheep and poultry (Travaini et al 2000;Cossíos Meza 2004;Caruso et al 2017;Bickley et al 2020).…”

Space use patterns of two large carnivores: Puma (Puma concolor) and Maned Wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) in tropical agroecosystems

“…Unpaved roads had a positive and significant effect on the intensity of use by maned wolves and were also relevant to the space use of pumas. The use of roads by these species is well-documented (Massara et al 2012; Quiroga et al 2016; Aximoff et al 2020), including in our study region (Lyra-Jorge et al 2008; Miotto et al 2012; Paolino et al 2016). These structures allow carnivores to move faster and farther with lower energy cost, positively influencing encounters with potential prey (Pescador and Peris 2007; Latham et al 2011; DeMars and Boutin 2018).…”

Terrestrial mammals of the Americas and their interactions with plastic waste

“…The other studies present only one description (Montanelli 2001 ; Tirelli et al 2019 ). On the other hand, in C. brachyurus , the samples presented a plastic film (Aximoff et al 2020 ). The other studies lack details (Aragona et al 2001 ; Silva et al 2003 ; Massara et al 2012 ).…”