Home-range use by the Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama

Abstract

This study investigates the movements and home range of the agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. We captured and tracked 12 agoutis from January to December 2003. Home-range size (95% kernel) ranged from 1.56-2.45 ha (n = 6) for males and 1.34-1.97 ha (n = 5) for females. Agouti ranges overlapped and we estimated a density of approximately 100 agoutis km −2 . We compared agouti movement with the locations of refuges and food trees, and the results suggest that the agoutis are central-place foragers. Agoutis moved an average of 850 m d −1 covering approximately 35% of their range daily. These movement data help us understand the potential impacts of agoutis as seed dispersers, predicting that D. punctata will encounter and hoard fallen fruit within 10-200 m (i.e. radius of home range) of its source, and move seeds towards refuges such as ground holes and dense vegetation around recent tree falls.

Evidence for cache surveillance by a scatter-hoarding rodent

“…Agouti home ranges on the island average 2.71 ha and overlap widely with the home ranges of other agoutis (Emsens et al 2013). Although agoutis are often observed chasing and acting aggressively, individual agoutis cannot maintain an exclusive territory on BCI (Aliaga-Rossel et al 2008). Agoutis use multiple refuges (Emsens et al 2013), but do not appear to preferentially cache seeds around these refuges (cf.…”

Scatter hoarding by the Central American agouti: a test of optimal cache spacing theory

“…Agoutis occupy territories of approximately 1-4 ha. Males have larger territories than females, which they defend aggressively against conspecific intruders (Smythe 1978;Aliaga-Rossel et al 2008). Agoutis scatter-hoard seeds of several large-seeded plant species during the period of highest fruit abundance, and retrieve them during the scarcity period, which includes the dry season.…”

“…The scale of our camera sampling (eight points within 1 ha) is large enough relative to agouti home range size to avoid local-level differences in animal movement (e.g. congregating around one fruit tree) from biasing our abundance estimate (Aliaga-Rossel et al 2008). Agouti abundance was quantified as the capture rate, the number of agouti visits per day, which gave a relative measure of agouti foraging across the study plots.…”

Dispersión de semillas de Mauritia flexuosa (Arecaceae) por frugívoros terrestres en Laguna Azul, Beni, Bolivia

“…Es posible que especies como D. punctata y C. paca tuvieran mayores probabilidades de encontrar las estaciones de frutos dentro de sus ámbitos de hogar (2-8 ha, Silvius y Fragoso 2003;Aliaga-Rossel et al 2008), que las especies con ámbitos de hogar más grandes, como T. terrestris (Bodmer 1991;Fragoso 1994;Allen 1997). Silvius y Fragoso (2003) reportan que Dasyprocta puede depender de pocos árboles por varios meses.…”

“…Para ello se colocaron estaciones de frutos separadas entre sí por aproximadamente 300 m, rodeando la laguna y suponiendo que cada estación estaría en el área de acción de un jochi colorado (Silvius y Fragoso 2003, Aliaga-Rossel et al 2008. Las estaciones fueron colocadas a 2 m desde una palma adulta, para simular la oferta natural de frutos y aproximadamente en el límite observable entre los cinturones externo e interno del palmar; siempre en el mismo lugar que la primera vez o cerca (< 5 m).…”