IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Vynne, C.; Almeida, R.; Silveira, L. | |
| Landscape Matrix Composition Affects Distribution of Puma and Jaguar in a Cerrado Ecosystem | |
| 2007 Conference Proceeding | |
Species with large habitat requirements can rarely be supported in protected areas alone and the majority of mortality for large carnivores occurs outside of the reserves designed to provide them safe haven. We are examining how changes in the landscape matrix affect the viability of wideranging carnivores in and around Emas National Park, Brazil. Specially-trained scat detection dogs were used to locate faeces of puma, _Puma concolor_, and jaguar, _Panthera onca_. Three dog-handler teams sampled a 4000 km2 area, consisting of natural habitat, pasture, and croplands, between April and September of 2004, 2006, and 2007. We collected more than 100 scat samples, plotted their locations on land use maps, and analyzed the samples for diet contents and parasite load. Samples are being used to confirm species, identify individuals, their sex, reproductive status, and stress hormone levels. Puma were found inside and outside the national park, and appear to make extensive use of forest fragments on private lands surrounded by croplands and pasture. Crop harvest cycle and amount of edge habitat predict occurrence of puma. By contrast, jaguars were found primarily within the national park in close proximity to closed canopy forest. |
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