Ecosystems in the northern Andes face unprecedented habitat loss. Pumas are the top predators in the region and exert key ecological functions, such as population control and resource facilitation. However, little is known about the temporal niche of the species or its effects on behaviour of prey in the tropics. We hypothesized that there is a link between the activity patterns of pumas and their prey in a cloud forest of the Central Andes of Colombia. We installed 61 camera traps to estimate the degree of overlap between the daily activity curves of pumas and seven potential prey species, using conditional kernel density functions. Pumas, armadillos, mountain pacas, and white–eared opossums were mainly nocturnal, with little crepuscular activity and high temporal overlap. Central American agouti, mountain coati, little red brocket deer, and Cauca guan displayed a predominantly diurnal activity and temporal partitioning with pumas. As opportunistic predators, pumas were able to maximize foraging efficiency by preying on the crepuscular and nocturnal species. Conservation of this highland predator will largely depend on the suitable management of its native prey.
La presencia de A. lemurinus fue determinada a partir de observaciones ocasionales y búsquedas libres entre el año 2014 y 2016 en diferentes lugares del Quindío. Al momento de observar un individuo o grupo familiar, se georreferenció el lugar de observación y posteriormente se categorizó de acuerdo a la composición del paisaje donde se ubica el fragmento boscoso y el tamaño del mismo. Dichas características de cada bosque se determinaron a partir de imágenes satelitales extraídas del Sig-Quindío.
Bat ectoparasites have a complex natural history narrowly tied to their hosts at ecological, behavioral, and evolutionary scales. As flying and social organisms, bats represent a potential mechanism of dispersal, a source of feeding, and a roost for ectoparasite reproduction. The chiggerflea Hectopsylla pulex (Siphonaptera: Tungidae) is widely distributed across the Neotropics. Females of this ectoparasite have been found in their neosomal form on bats of the family Molossidae, Noctilionidae, Phyllostomidae, and Vespertilionidae. Here we present the record of infestation of chiggerfleas on the Argentine bat, Eptesicus furinalis (Vespertilionidae) in Colombia, representing the first record of the flea on this species, and providing novel genetic information of this poorly known flea species.
Los monos araña (género Ateles) son unos de los mamíferos neotropicales con mayor vulnerabilidad a la degradación y fragmentación de su hábitat, así como a la cacería (Michalski & Peres 2005). De acuerdo a lo anterior, todas las especies de este género han sido categorizadas en estado de peligro (EN) o peligro crítico (CR) y se encuentran entre las principales prioridades de conservación (Stevenson et al. 2010). Las poblaciones de A. fusciceps en el noroccidente de Sur América están amenazadas por extinción a corto o mediano plazo debido a la reducción sistemática de sus poblaciones como producto de la cacería indiscriminada y la alarmante tasa
The Colombian weasel, Neogale felipei (Izor & de la Torre, 1978), is one of the most enigmatic and threatened carnivores in South America, with only six confirmed records in the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia. During a long-term trail camera survey conducted at Mesenia-Paramillo Natural Reserve, we recorded the northernmost occurrence of the species, which extends its distribution by approximately 120 km to the north from the nearest previously known locality in Colombia. We also provide some comments on its natural history.
Marsupial species of the family Didelphidae comprise the most diverse extant group of Metatherians inhabiting South America and part of North America. This family comprises more than 95 species, among which the members of the subfamilies Didelphinae and Caluromyinae include the largest species (> 150 g). Although widely distributed, information about their feeding habits is relatively scarce, especially for species of the genus Philander. Here we present the first record and description of a predatory event on the Tropical Flat Snake (Siphlophis compressus) by the Anderson's Four-eyed Opossum (Philander andersoni) in the Amazonian region of Colombia. During the predation event, we made ad libitum observations for about 12 minutes, using a camera to record the feeding behavior of P. andersoni. The event was recorded on October 31, 2018. During a nocturnal survey, we observed one individual adult of P. andersoni while consuming a specimen of S. compressus. The marsupial bited and pulled the snake body with its premolar dentition and forelimbs respectively to consume the prey's soft parts. This record shows that although S. compressus exhibits several antipredator characteristics, such as an aposematic elapid-like colored pattern, elusive behavior and Durvenoy glands, P. andersoni was able to feed upon this species in a stereotyped way. To the best of our knowledge this is the first documented consumption event of this snake by a mammal species, yielding new information about the feeding habits of P. andersoni and the predators of S. compressus.
El uso de las cámaras trampa (CT) en la investigación de fauna silvestre puede generar conclusiones sesgadas cuando la detectabilidad imperfecta de especies no es considerada. Herramientas analíticas como los modelos de ocupación permiten estimar simultáneamente parámetros ecológicos corregidos por la probabilidad de detección. Sin embargo, es necesario implementar e interpretar de manera correcta los parámetros estimados por estos modelos para obtener inferencias con sentido biológico. Este trabajo presenta un marco conceptual base para diseñar de manera apropiada un análisis de ocupación por medio de datos de CT. Se discuten y se señalan recomendaciones generales para la definición de los elementos del modelo, el diseño del muestreo, así como estrategias de modelamiento estadísticos apropiadas dependiendo de los objetivos del estudio, las características de la especie y el tipo de datos obtenidos. Las decisiones tomadas por el investigador para definir cada uno de los componentes del modelo deben considerar la escala adecuada para que el fenómeno de estudio tenga sentido biológico. De esta manera, es posible generar inferencias y conclusiones robustas a partir de información de CT, lo que permite avanzar en el entendimiento de los mecanismos que subyacen a la ecología espacial de fauna silvestre y por lo tanto en su conservación.
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