Human activities are changing landscape structure and function globally, affecting wildlife space use, and ultimately increasing human-wildlife conflicts and zoonotic disease spread. Capybaras ...(Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are linked to conflicts in human-modified landscapes (e.g. crop damage, vehicle collision), as well as the spread and amplification of Brazilian spotted fever (BSF), the most human-lethal tick-borne disease in the world. Even though it is essential to understand the link between capybaras, ticks and BSF, many knowledge gaps still exist regarding the effects of human disturbance in capybara space use. Here, we analyzed diurnal and nocturnal habitat selection strategies of capybaras across natural and human-modified landscapes using resource selection functions (RSF). Selection for forested habitats was higher across human-modified landscapes, mainly during day- periods, when compared to natural landscapes. Across natural landscapes, capybaras avoided forests during both day- and night periods. Water was consistently selected across both landscapes, during day- and nighttime. Distance to water was also the most important variable in predicting capybara habitat selection across natural landscapes. Capybaras showed slightly higher preferences for areas near grasses/shrubs across natural landscapes, and distance to grasses/shrubs was the most important variable in predicting capybara habitat selection across human-modified landscapes. Our results demonstrate human-driven variation in habitat selection strategies by capybaras. This behavioral adjustment across human-modified landscapes may be related to increases in A. sculptum density, ultimately affecting BSF.
Carlos Botelho State Park (PECB) is a large remnant of Atlantic Forest in Southeastern Brazil, with more than 37,000 ha. As its bat fauna is still unknown, we performed the first bat survey on PECB, ...to provide data on the distribution, natural history and taxonomy of the species. Fieldwork was conducted monthly, from October 2016 to September 2017. Captures were made using ground-level mist-nets (39600 m
2
.h), canopy mist-nets (2017.5 m
2
.h) and searches for roosts (42 hours).We captured 412 bats from 34 species of Phyllostomidae, Molossidae and Vespertilionidae. A total of 11 species were captured only in ground-level mist-nets, five in canopy mist-nets, and seven in roosts.
Dermanura cinerea
Gervais, 1856,
Eptesicus taddeii
Miranda, Bernardi & Passos, 2006,
Glyphonycteris sylvestris
Thomas, 1896 and
Lampronycteris brachyotis
(Dobson, 1879) are rare on surveys conducted in the Atlantic Forest of São Paulo and were captured in canopy mist-nets.
Micronycteris schmidtorum
Sanborn, 1935 and
Molossus currentium
Thomas, 1901 constitute the first record for the state of São Paulo, and were captured in canopy mist-nets and roosts, respectively. The species richness registered for PECB surpasses other surveys conducted in Atlantic Forest localities that use only ground-level mist-nets. Our results reinforce the importance of employing mixed capture methods, such as elevated mist-nets and searches for roosts.
We described the diets of two procyonids, the brown-nosed coati Nasua nasua and the crab-eating raccoon Procyon cancrivorus, through analysis of stomach contents of road-killed specimens in southern ...Brazil. We compared them with previously published dietary information for another syntopic mesopredator, the crab-eating fox Cerdocyon thous. The landscape of the study area includes native grasslands, forests, exotic tree plantations, and other crops. Food items were represented by frequency of occurrence (FO) and relative volume (RV). Stomach contents of 23 coatis were analyzed. Animal and plant items were equally frequent, although the volume of plants was greater. Exotic plant species were consumed more than native plants. Among prey items, invertebrates were more important than vertebrates, mainly because of the frequency of coleopterans and annelids and the volume of necrophagous dipteran larvae. Five specimens of raccoons were analyzed, in which animal items had the highest FO and plant items had the highest RV. Both invertebrate and vertebrate prey had the same FO, although vertebrates had a higher RV. Our data suggest that these procyonids are opportunistic hypocarnivores, utilizing anthropic sources, with diet overlap. The coatis also overlapped their diet substantially with the foxes. The stomach-contents analysis revealed the importance of fruit pulp biomass, soft-bodied animals such as larvae, and also soil, which might indicate feeding habits such as scavenging and geophagy.
The difficulty of capturing capuchins(genus Cebus)via anesthetic projectiles, as well as the scarcity of methodological descriptions of operational trapping programs, are widely known. The ...limitations hamper studies focusing on the conservation and evaluation of the health of capuchins that depend on their capture. We report on techniques and trap models used for capturing black tufted capuchins(Cebus nigritus)in Londrina, Telêmaco Borba, and Porto Rico, municipalities of the State of Paraná, Southern Brazil. Captures occurred in forest fragments, continuous forests, and gallery forests belonging to several vegetational formations. The trap model we developed was a 2×2×3 m cage equipped with a 2×1 m door that we operated manually from a distance. We used live traps measuring 0.5×0.5×0.5 m simultaneously with large traps. We provided weekly bait stations using ca. 20 kg of food 1-2 mo before capture, during which we developed a whistle emulating a type of vocalization emitted by the primates that we used to habituate and attract the group to the bait station. The technique was very useful to find groups and to attract them more easily to the traps. We physically contained the captured individuals with nets, followed by manual restraining. For chemical restraining, we applied an anesthetic protocol based on the use of Zoletil ^sup ®^.We kept the subjects in smaller cages until they recovered from anesthesia, and maintained them in the cages thereafter, facilitating the attraction of other individuals to the larger cage.Wecaptured 85 capuchins in the State of Paraná. Of the individuals that could be sexed, 65.1% were males and 34.8% were females. In addition to the capture of primates, we showed that the type of cage described here was versatile enough to capture other mammals such as tayra(Eira barbara), peccary(Pecari tajacu), and coatis(Nasua nasua). Because of the similarity in the foraging behavior and diet among capuchin species, we suggest that the program described here could be extended to the capture of other species in thegenus Cebusthroughout its geographical range. We also describe a list of steps that need to be taken, based on our satisfactory results in several different localities, to conduct a capture program that is both efficient for researchers and safe for the subjects.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
BRAZIL ROAD-KILL Grilo, Clara; Coimbra, Michely R.; Cerqueira, Rafaela C. ...
Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America,
01/2019, Volume:
100, Issue:
1
Journal Article
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