No abstract

Animal activity patterns correspond to the individual diel cycle time and is an important attribute of species coexistence in ecological communities. However, activity patterns of most Neotropical species are still poorly understood. Based on an 8‐year camera‐trapping survey conducted between 2009 and 2017, we evaluated puma (Puma concolor) activity patterns in a human‐modified landscape in Southeastern Brazil. Our objectives were to determine the activity pattern of pumas and to verify the influence of main prey species and anthropogenic factors on their behavior. We categorized activity patterns of all assessed species based on the proportion of independent records during night and day times. We tested for sex differences in activity patterns of pumas, and measured their overlap with most consumed prey, people, cattle and domestic dogs. Our results suggested that males engaged in mostly nocturnal behavior while females were active both at night and day hours. Pumas exhibited higher coefficient of overlapping with prey species that were most often included in their diet, suggesting that prey availability might influence puma activity or that pumas opportunistically prey upon species with similar activity pattern. Female pumas seem to be more exposed to anthropogenic threats due to higher activity pattern overlap with people and domestic dogs. Our findings provide insights into puma‐prey temporal behavior, highlighting the relevance of intrasexual dissimilarity in the activity patterns of a top predator living in a disturbed landscape.

Surveying and monitoring of elusive animals with naturally low densities and large home ranges, such as many medium‐ and large‐sized mammals, is challenging. Low capture rates can preclude detailed analyses. The use of bait has been used as a strategy to increase carnivore capture rates in many camera‐trap surveys. Here, we test the effect of one carnivore bait type (mix of fresh sardine and egg) on the capture rates of carnivores and prey species in a camera‐trap survey in the Central Brazilian Amazon. We also test if the quality of records of naturally marked felids for individual identification is enhanced by the use of bait. We found that the bait had no apparent effect on the carnivore capture rates, but it might have repelled some prey species. The number of suitable photos for individual identification of naturally marked felids was greater at baited stations than at unbaited stations, but this did not result in practical advantages for individual identification. We recommend that the use of carnivore bait should be carefully considered at the planning stage of camera‐trap studies as it can negatively affect recording of prey species.

Amazonia forest plays a major role in providing ecosystem services for human and sanctuaries for wildlife. However, ongoing deforestation and habitat fragmentation in the Brazilian Amazon has threatened both. The ocelot is an ecologically important mesopredator and a potential conservation ambassador species, yet there are no previous studies on its habitat preference and spatial patterns in this biome. From 2010 to 2017, twelve sites were surveyed, totaling 899 camera trap stations, the largest known dataset for this species. Using occupancy modeling incorporating spatial autocorrelation, we assessed habitat use for ocelot populations across the Brazilian Amazon. Our results revealed a positive sigmoidal correlation between remote‐sensing derived metrics of forest cover, disjunct core area density, elevation, distance to roads, distance to settlements and habitat use, and that habitat use by ocelots was negatively associated with slope and distance to river/lake. These findings shed light on the regional scale habitat use of ocelots and indicate important species–habitat relationships, thus providing valuable information for conservation management and land‐use planning.

Camera traps (CTs) are used for wildlife monitoring globally. How CTs are used in wildlife studies across Africa, however, remains unknown. We provide the first literature review of CT studies conducted across Africa, to describe where, to what end, and by whom CTs are used, and to identify apparent gaps in the use of CTs. We found 172 CT studies published across 60 scientific journals, conducted in 30 of 55 African countries from 2005 to 2017. Most studies were conducted over a single year/season (74%) and primarily addressed habitat use/species distribution (43%), species presence/richness (38.4%), behaviour (35.5%) or demographics (29.7%). Most studies took place in forest (52%), woodland (33%) and grassland (33%) habitat types, and focused on a single species (45.3%). Carnivores were the most commonly studied species group (86%), followed by large herbivores (58%) and primates (38%). Our results suggest that camera trapping is rapidly increasing in use across Africa and potentially driven by country‐based economic factors; however, there is room for improvement. CTs could be expanded in use for studies on underrepresented taxa (i.e. small mammals, reptiles and birds), investigations of human–wildlife conflict and understudied ecoregions (i.e. Sahara Desert).

Várzea forests account for 17% of the Amazon basin and endure an annual inundation that can reach 14 m deep during 6–8 months. This flood pulse in combination with topography directly influences the várzea vegetation cover. Assemblages of several taxa differ significantly between unflooded terra firme and flooded várzea forests, but little is known about the distribution of medium and large sized terrestrial mammals in várzea habitats. Therefore, our goal was to understand how those habitats influence mammalian species distribution during the dry season. Specifically, we: (1) compared the species composition between a terra firme (Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve) and a várzea forest (Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve); and (2) tested the influence of the várzea habitat classes on the number of records, occurrence and species composition of mammalian assemblages. The sampling design in each reserve consisted of 50 baited camera trap stations, with an overall sampling effort of 5015 camera trap days. We used Non-Metric Multidimension Scaling (NMDS) to compare species composition between terra firme and várzea forests, and used Generalized Linear Models (GLM) to assess how habitat types and a habitat diversity index affect mammal distributions. We recorded 21 medium and large sized mammalian species, including 20 species in terra firme and only six in várzea (3443 records). Flood pulse and isolation in várzea forest drove the dissimilarity between these two forest types. In várzea forest, medium size mammals, in general, avoided habitats associated with long flooding periods, while jaguars (Panthera onca) appeared to prefer aquatic/terrestrial transition zones. Habitats that remain dry for longer periods showed more mammalian occurrence, suggesting that dispersion via soil is important even for semi-arboreal species. This is the first study to evaluate differential use of várzea habitats by terrestrial mammalian assemblages.

Ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) are presumed to be the most abundant of the wild cats throughout their distribution range and to play an important role in the dynamics of sympatric small-felid populations. However, ocelot ecological information is limited, particularly for the Amazon. We conducted three camera-trap surveys during three consecutive dry seasons to estimate ocelot density in Amanã Reserve, Central Amazonia, Brazil. We implemented a spatial capture-recapture (SCR) model that shared detection parameters among surveys. A total effort of 7020 camera-trap days resulted in 93 independent ocelot records. The estimate of ocelot density in Amanã Reserve (24.84 ± SE 6.27 ocelots per 100 km2) was lower than at other sites in the Amazon and also lower than that expected from a correlation of density with latitude and rainfall. We also discuss the importance of using common parameters for survey scenarios with low recapture rates. This is the first density estimate for ocelots in the Brazilian Amazon, which is an important stronghold for the species.

The spatial distribution of biodiversity and related processes is the core of Biogeography. Amazonia is the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of diversity to several Neotropical regions. The origins of such diversity continue to be an unresolved question in evolutionary biology. Among many competing hypotheses to explain the evolution of the Amazonian biodiversity, one stands out as the most influential: the refugia hypothesis by Jürgen Haffer. Here, we provide a chronological overview on how the refugia hypothesis evolved over the decades and how the criticism from different fields affected its acceptance. We conclude that the refugia hypothesis alone cannot explain the diversification of the complex Amazonian diversity, and perhaps it was not the most important diversification mechanism. However, the debate provoked by refugia has produced a great amount of knowledge on Amazonian climatic, geological, and evolutionary processes, as well as on species distributions, movements, and history.