Conflict with humans is a significant source of mortality in carnivore populations yet information on this issue is lacking for some areas where threatened carnivores such as the jaguar Panthera onca interact with humans. We interviewed cattle ranchers to examine patterns of predation on livestock by carnivores in the tropical lowlands of Guatemala and to determine if the ranchers applied management practices recommended to prevent such predation by large felids. Additionally, we compared ranches with and without attacks on livestock to determine whether ranch characteristics and landscape structure near ranches explains the variations in the occurrence of livestock predation by carnivores. Cattle losses to carnivores represented 0.7% of the cattle stock in all ranches surveyed. Jaguars were most often accused of livestock attacks (suggesting a negative perception of this felid in the area), followed by pumas Puma concolor and coyotes Canis latrans. Males and smaller cattle were most often attacked and general patterns of attacks on livestock were similar to sites previously studied in the neotropics. Landscape structure around ranches (e.g. forest cover, distance to forest, bodies of water and human settlements) best explained the probability of predation on livestock. Outreach programmes and conflict mitigation measures need to be implemented for those ranches that are distant from human settlements but near forest cover and water sources. The co-occurrence of predation by jaguars, pumas and coyotes is particular to Mesoamerica and conflict mitigation strategies proposed in studies elsewhere may need to be altered, and evaluated, to be effective in this region.

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We examined the relationships among Lepidopteran species richness and relative abundance, field and park size, and herbaceous plant richness and cover in parks of New York, NY. Lepidopteran populations and habitats were quantified from 1 June-30 September 2002 in fields of 8 New York City (NYC) parks. We observed 42 species of Lepidoptera, with park size, field size, and plant species richness positively related to Lepidopteran abundance and species richness. Several plant species received heavy use and appeared to be important to Lepidoptera in this urban environment, particularly butterfly-bush (Buddleia davidii), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), knapweed (Centaurea maculosa), and clover (Trifolium spp.).

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