Understanding the ecology of medium-sized carnivores (Mammalia: Carnivora) from a Tropical Dry Forest in Colombian Caribbean

Abstract

Fauna in Tropical Dry Forest (TDF) is highly dependent on water availability due to a marked seasonality in precipitation. There are few studies addressing carnivore’s ecology and the role of seasonality of TDF in Neotropics. We used scent-station and camera trapping to assess seasonal changes in occurrence and habitat use probability with seasonality. We also described activity patterns and collected fresh scats to describe diet for small sized carnivore species in a TDF fragment in the Colombian Caribbean region. We present information regarding: Cerdocyon thous, Leopardus pardalis, and Procyon spp. The analysis showed a significantly higher occurrence probability during the dry season for the three species, and no differences in the detection probability between seasons. The diet of C. thous included 24 different food items; for L. pardalis it was composed of seven items, and finally, 25 food items were identified in the diet of Procyon spp. We found that the three species presented activity patterns corresponding with previous studies. Finally, our results reflect that these species are probably making more/larger habitat use during the dry season than in the wet season, because the area has permanent water ponds by which limited resources (such as water and food) are available almost constantly in this natural reserve.

Landscape Structure and Seasonality: Effects on Wildlife Species Richness and Occupancy in a Fragmented Dry Forest in Coastal Ecuador

“…We believe it is unlikely that BV is as equally diverse as DF and SF. Conversely, species richness findings suggest that species are willing to venture into human-dominated areas (i.e., BV) potentially to obtain resources such as water or food [20]. The three sampling areas analyzed do not significantly differ in species richness and diversity, suggesting an overall trend of species to be at least tolerant to some human interventions.…”

“…In addition to high human impacts, TDFs in northwestern South America are seasonal, and mammals' species numbers likely vary not only among forest types but also by seasons [20][21][22][23]. In TDFs in Colombia, detection probabilities have shown no variation across seasons, but the overall richness has been found higher in more deciduous forest types [22], and some species exhibited higher occurrence probabilities during months of lower precipitation [20]. In Ecuador, detection rates were higher in semi-deciduous tropical forests than in dry forests, but species richness values were similar [21].…”

Una última cena

“…El desconocimiento de la dieta de mamíferos carnívoros medianos constituye un vacío de información importante para este grupo y una oportunidad para explorar investigaciones futuras. En general, la información sobre la dieta de estos mesocarnívoros se ha realizado principalmente mediante observaciones (Cerón et al 2020) o usando heces (Gatti et al 2006;Gómez -Ruiz et al 2020). Sin embargo, especies de mesocarnívoros como P. cancrivorusque son usualmente atropellados en carreteras colombianas (Meza-Joya et al 2019), representan una oportunidad para contribuir al conocimiento de la dieta e historia natural de estas especies (Bisbal 1986;Aguiar et al 2011;Kasper et al 2016).…”