Diet and Habitat Use by Maned Wolf Outside Protected Areas in Eastern Brazil

Abstract

The maned wolf has been studied in nature reserves, but few researches have been carried out outside protected areas. Since only about 2 % of the Brazilian Cerrado, the maned wolf's main habitat, has been set aside as parks and reserves, determining what is happening with the species in private and disturbed areas is important for an accurate assessment of its vulnerability to extinction. Here we investigated the trophic ecology of a maned wolf population inhabiting a 1610 ha section of the Calçada Ridge, an unprotected area located in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The study site is in the buffer zone (< 10 km) of two protected areas, where anthropogenic (urban areas and roads) and disturbed areas (burned fields) total a third of the study landscape. The main disturbances are mining activities, unregulated ecotourism and road proximity. Fecal samples (n= 95) collected between 2006 and 2008 revealed that the maned wolf frequently used both natural and disturbed fields. The diet was composed mostly of small mammals (9 species, 16.2 % of items and 92.6% of scats) and the plant Solanum lycocarpum (12.2% of items and 89.5% of scats), similar to what has been found in less disturbed areas. Overall diet diversity was, however, lower than has been found elsewhere, probably reflecting the poorer resource base of the study area. These results, together with recent findings from other sources, highlight the importance of buffer zones. They also suggest that the maned wolf is an ecologically flexible species that might be prone to hunt, and perhaps even survive, in disturbed areas outside protected areas. Key words: Chrysocyon brachyurus, Feeding habits, Habitat selection, Scat analysisResumo O lobo-guará têm sido estudado em unidades de conservação, mas poucas pesquisas têm sido conduzidas fora de áreas protegidas. Uma vez que apenas cerca de 2% do Cerrado brasileiro, habitat principal do lobo-guará, está protegido em parques e reservas, verificar o que está acontecendo com a espécie em áreas privadas e degradadas é importante para uma avaliação precisa de sua vulnerabilidade à extinção. Aqui nós investigamos a ecologia trófica de uma população de lobos-guarás que habitam um trecho de 1.610 ha da Serra da Calçada, uma área desprotegida localizada na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte, capital do estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. A área de estudo está localizada na zona de amortecimento (< 10 km) de duas unidades de conservação, onde áreas antropizadas (áreas urbanas e estradas) e perturbadas (campos queimados) formam um terço do total da paisagem de estudo.Os principais impactos são as atividades mineradoras, o ecoturismo não regulamentado e a proximidade de estradas. As amostras fecais (n=95) coletadas entre 2006 e 2008 revelaram que o lobo-guará usou com freqüência tanto áreas naturais como impactadas. A dieta foi composta principalmente por pequenos mamíferos (9 espécies, 16,2% dos itens e 92,6 % das fezes) e pela planta Solanum lycocarpum (12,2% dos i...

Buffer zone use by mammals in a Cerrado protected area

“…Similarly, the generalist puma and maned wolf have been recorded outside of Emas National Park, another large Cerrado protected area (Silveira 2004;Vynne et al 2010;Vynne et al 2014). Our results support therefore the notion that buffer zones are potential usable area for these large carnivores, corroborating other authors (Massara et al 2012;Miotto et al 2012).…”

“…However, this finding also indicate, apart from the high capacity of movement and dispersal (Oliveira 1994, Mantovani 2001, a relatively high tolerance of these species to anthropogenic habitat alterations (Van Dyke 2008;Massara et al 2012). These results are very interesting, because they suggest that the buffer zone, although disturbed, can still provide favorable habitat and food resources for these large carnivores.…”

“…The large amount of continuous native vegetation within JES and LAES (77%), probably makes the area within their perimeters a highly favourable environment for these species for several reasons, including thermoregulation (Camilo-Alves & Mourã o 2006), shelter and feeding (Oliveira 1994, Emmons & Feer 1997, Murray & Gardner 1997, Medri & Mourã o 2005. However, large mammals inhabiting the Cerrado might not be able to survive in the long term solely within protected areas (Massara et al 2012). The amount of native vegetation in buffer zone are thus important sources of additional resources for some species, and for providing dispersal routes.…”

“…Puma and maned wolf have a high movement capacity and travel long distances (Oliveira 1994, Massara et al 2012). Thus, their higher use of the buffer zone may increase their detection probability.…”

“…The buffer zone is suitable habitat for several species, even though there are cases in which animal abundances decrease from the PA perimeter towards the buffer zone limit because of the concomitant increase of human activities and occurrence of domestic animals (Jotikapukkana et al 2010). Mantovani (2001) and Jotikapukkana et al (2010) are some of the very few studies that assess the occurrence of wildlife in buffer zones and the importance of these areas (Massara et al 2012). Furthermore, the Brazilian law on buffer zones lacks clarity and objectivity that hamper their practical application (Vitalli et al 2009).…”