Abstract
Understanding how jaguars (Panthera onca) adapt to disturbed landscapes, especially urbanized areas, can help us prevent adverse situations, thus reducing conflict, and perhaps even achieve coexistence with these predators. Playa del Carmen, a city located in the middle of a natural corridor linking two jaguar conservation units (JCUs; Sian Ka’an and Yum Balam), is facing intense pressure from tourism-related city growth. From January 2013 to March 2014, we tracked an adult male jaguar using a satellite collar and found that the presence of the Playa del Carmen landfill had a clear influence on a male jaguar’s home range and movements. We observed that this particular jaguar had the smallest seasonal home range and core areas reported in the literature (particularly during the dry season in 2013, where the home range was only 16.22 km2 and the core area was 2.5 km2) and also that the seasonal core areas overlapped with the area covered by the landfill (with a number of important locations within the landfill). Our results showed that male jaguars are surviving in areas previously not considered as jaguar habitat and are taking advantage of the human resources within. We hope that these results encourage more jaguar studies to be carried out in areas disturbed by human activities.
Acknowledgments
This study was made possible by the support and funds granted by Sistemas Estratégicos para la Gestión Ambiental SEGA S. A. de C.V in charge of the biological survey for the highway project “Ramales Cedral-Tintal, Tintal-Playa del Carmen con una longitud de 54 km en el estado de Quintana Roo, México”. The project was sponsored by Ingenieros Civiles Asociados, Infraestructure Division (ICAi) through the Mayab Consortium. We thank the División Académica de Ciencias Biológicas de la Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco for logistical support in the realization of this project. We specially thank all the landowners of the ejidos of Agua Azul, Benito Juárez, Cedral, Laguna de Costa Rica, Guadalupe Victoria, Héroes de Nacozari and El Tintal for allowing us to do our research in their land. We are grateful to those who helped with capturing the jaguar: A. Rivera, F. Zavala, E. López, A. de la Torre de Lara, S. Carrillo, M. Tobler and D. Simpson; and to the veterinary team: I. Cassaigne, S. Ortiz Amador, S. Ilescas, O. Lofer and B. Portillo. We thank CONACYT for graduate studies scholarship number 335814/232663 awarded to A. González Gallina who is studying at the Instituto de Ecología A.C.
References
Amit, R., E.J. Gordillo-Chávez and R. Bone. 2013. Jaguar and puma attacks on livestock in Costa Rica. Hum.-Wildlife Int. 7: 77–84.Search in Google Scholar
Appel, M.J.G., R.A. Yates, G.L. Foley, J.J. Bernstein, S. Santinelli, L.H. Spelman, L.D. Miller, L.H. Arp, M. Anderson, M. Barr, S. Pearce-Kelling and B.A. Summers. 1994. Canine distemper epizootic in lions, tigers, and leopards in North America. J. Vet. Diagn. Invest. 6: 277–288.10.1177/104063879400600301Search in Google Scholar
Athreya, V., S.S. Thakur, S. Chaudhuri and A.V. Belsare. 2007. Leopards in human-dominated areas: a spillover from sustained translocations into nearby forests? J. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. 104: 45–50.Search in Google Scholar
Athreya, V., M. Odden, J.D.C. Linnell, J. Jrishnaswamy and U. Karanth. 2013. Big cats in our backyards: Persistence of large carnivores in a human dominated landscape in India. PLoS One 8: e57872.10.1371/journal.pone.0057872Search in Google Scholar
Athreya, V., R. Navya, G.A. Punjabi, J.D.C. Linnell, M. Odden, D. Khetarpal and U. Karanth. 2014. Movement and activity pattern of a collared tigress in a human-dominated landscape in central India. Trop. Conserv. Sci. 7: 75–86.10.1177/194008291400700111Search in Google Scholar
Avila, D.M., C. Chávez-Tovar, M.A. Lazcano-Barrero, S. Pérez Elizalde and J.L. Alcántara-Carbajal. 2015. Estimación poblacional y conservación de felinos (Carnivora:Felidae) en el norte de Quintana Roo, México. Revista de Biología Tropical 63: 799–813.10.15517/rbt.v63i3.15410Search in Google Scholar
Bino, G., A. Dolev, D. Yosha, A. Guter-King, R.D. Saltz and S. Kark. 2010. Abrupt spatial and numerical responses of overabundant foxes to a reduction in anthropogenic resources. J. Appl. Ecol. 47: 1262–1271.10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01882.xSearch in Google Scholar
Blanchard, B.M. and R.R. Knight. 1991. Movements of Yellowstone grizzly bears. Biol. Conserv. 58: 41–67.10.1016/0006-3207(91)90044-ASearch in Google Scholar
Burt, W.H. 1943. Territoriality and home range concepts as applied to mammals. J. Mammal. 24: 346–352.10.2307/1374834Search in Google Scholar
Butler, J.R., J.D. Linnell, D. Morrant, V. Athreya, N. Lescureux and A. McKeown. 2014. Dog eat dog, cat eat dog: social-ecological dimensions of dog predation by wild carnivores. In: (M.E. Grompper, ed.) Free-ranging dogs & wildlife conservation. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. pp. 117–143.Search in Google Scholar
Campos-Cámara, B.L. 2007. Procesos de urbanización y turismo en Playa del Carmen Quintana Roo. Plaza y Valdez, México, D.F. pp. 212.Search in Google Scholar
Cascelli de Azevedo, F.C. and D. Murray. 2007. Evaluation of potential factors predisposing livestock to predation by jaguars. J. Wildlife Manage. 71: 2379–2386.10.2193/2006-520Search in Google Scholar
Cavalcanti, S.M. and E.M. Gese. 2009. Spatial ecology and social interactions of jaguars (Panthera onca) in the southern Pantanal, Brazil. J. Mammal. 90: 935–945.10.1644/08-MAMM-A-188.1Search in Google Scholar
Cavalcanti, S.M and E.M. Gese. 2010. Kill rates and predation patterns of jaguars (Panthera onca) in the southern Pantanal, Brazil. J. Mammal. 91: 722–736.10.1644/09-MAMM-A-171.1Search in Google Scholar
Chávez-Tovar, J.C. 2009. Ecology and conservation of jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) in the Calakmul region, and its implications for the conservation of the Yucatán Peninsula. PhD. Dissertation. Universidad de Granada, España. pp. 111.Search in Google Scholar
Chávez-Tovar, C. and H. Zarza. 2009. Distribución potencial del hábitat del jaguar y áreas de conflicto humano-jaguar en la península de Yucatán. Revista Mexicana de Mastozoología 13: 46–62.10.22201/ie.20074484e.2009.13.1.35Search in Google Scholar
Colchero, F., D.A. Conde, C. Manterola, C. Chávez, A. Rivera and G. Ceballos. 2011. Jaguar son the move: modeling movement to mitigate fragmentation from road expansion in the mayan forest. Anim. Conserv. 14: 158–165.10.1111/j.1469-1795.2010.00406.xSearch in Google Scholar
Crawshaw, P.G. and H.B. Quigley. 2002. Jaguar and puma feeding habits in the Pantanal, Brazil, with implications for their management and conservation. In: (R. Medellín, C. Equihua, C. Chetkiewicz, P. Crawshaw, A. Rabinowitz, K. Redford, J. Robinson, E. Sanderson and A. Taber A, eds.). El Jaguar en el Nuevo Milenio. Fondo de Cultura Económica. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Wildlife Conservation Society, México. pp. 223–235.Search in Google Scholar
Cruz, E., G. Palacios and M. Güiris. 2011. Current status of Jaguars in Chiapas. In: (G. Ceballos, C. Chávez, R. List, H. Zarzay and R.A. Medellín, eds.) Jaguar conservation and management in Mexico: Case studies and perspectives. Alianza WWF/Telcel-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México. pp. 83–91.Search in Google Scholar
Da Silveira, R., E.E. Ramalho, J.B. Thorbjarnarson and W.E. Magnusson. 2010. Depredation by jaguars on caimans and importance of reptiles in the diet of Jaguar. J. Herpetol. 44: 418–424.10.1670/08-340.1Search in Google Scholar
Dahle, B., O.J. Sorensen, E.H. Wedul, J.E. Swenson and F. Sandegren. 1998. The diet of brown bears Ursus arctos in central Scandinavia: effect of access to free-ranging domestic sheep Ovis aries. Wildlife Biol. 4: 147–158.10.2981/wlb.1998.017Search in Google Scholar
de la Torre, J.A. and R. Medellin. 2011. Jaguars Panthera onca in the Greater Lacandona Ecosystem, Chiapas, Mexico: population estimates and future prospects. Oryx 45: 546–553.10.1017/S0030605310001511Search in Google Scholar
de Oliveira, T.G. 2002. Ecología comparativa de la alimentación del jaguar y del puma en el Neotrópico. In: (R. Medellín, C. Equihua, C. Chetkiewicz, P. Crawshaw, A. Rabinowitz, K. Redford, J. Robinson, E. Sanderson and A. Taber, eds.) El Jaguar en el Nuevo Milenio. Fondo de Cultura Económica. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Wildlife Conservation Society, México. pp. 265–288.Search in Google Scholar
Foster, R.J., B.J. Harmsen, B. Valdes, C. Pomilla and C.P. Doncaster. 2010. Food habits of sympatric jaguars and pumas across a gradient of human disturbance. J. Zool. 28: 309–318.10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00663.xSearch in Google Scholar
Furtado, M.M., J.D. de Ramos Filho, K.C. Scheffer, C.J. Coelho, P.S. Cruz, C.Y. Ikuta and J.S. Ferreira Neto. 2013. Serosurvey for selected viral infections in free-ranging jaguars (Panthera onca) and domestic carnivores in Brazilian Cerrado, Pantanal, and Amazon. J. Wildlife Dis. 49: 510–521.10.7589/2012-02-056Search in Google Scholar PubMed
Gehrt, S.D., C. Anchor and L.A. White. 2009. Home range and landscape use of coyotes in a metropolitan landscape: conflict or coexistence? J. Mammal. 90: 1045–1057.10.1644/08-MAMM-A-277.1Search in Google Scholar
Harris, S., W.J. Cresswell, P.G. Forde, W.J. Trewhella, T. Woollard and S. Wray. 1990. Home-range analysis using radio-tracking data – a review of problems and techniques particularly as applied to the study of mammals. Mammal. Rev. 20: 97–123.10.1111/j.1365-2907.1990.tb00106.xSearch in Google Scholar
Hernández-San Martín, A.D., O.C. Rosas-Rosas, J. Palacio-Núñez, L.A. Tarango-Arambula, F. Clemente-Sánchez and A.L. Hoogesteijn. 2015. Food habits of jaguar and puma in a protected area and adjacent fragmented landscape of Northeastern Mexico. Nat. Area. J. 35: 308–317.10.3375/043.035.0213Search in Google Scholar
Hidalgo-Mihart, M.G., L. Cantú-Salazar, C.A. López-González, E.C. Fernández and A. González-Romero. 2004. Effect of a landfill on the home range and group size of coyotes (Canis latrans) in a tropical deciduous forest. J. Zool. 263: 55–63.10.1017/S0952836904004868Search in Google Scholar
Hoogesteijn, R., E.O. Boede and E. Mondolfi. 2002. Observaciones de la depredación de bovimos por jaguares en Venezuela y los programas gubernamentales de control. In: (R. Medellín, C. Equihua, C. Chetkiewicz, P. Crawshaw, A. Rabinowitz, K. Redford, J. Robinson, E. Sanderson and A. Taber, eds.) El Jaguar en el Nuevo Milenio. Fondo de Cultura Económica. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Wildlife Conservation Society, México. pp. 183–197.Search in Google Scholar
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía. (2013) Anuario estadístico y geográfico de Quintana Roo 2013. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, Aguascalientes, México. pp. 744.Search in Google Scholar
Kernohan, B.J., R.A. Gitzen, and J.J. Millspaugh. 2001. Analysis of animal space use and movements. In: (J.J. Millspaugh and J.M. Marzluff, eds.) Radio tracking animal populations. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, USA.10.1016/B978-012497781-5/50006-2Search in Google Scholar
Knobel, D.L., R.A. Butler, T. Lembo, R. Critchlow and M.E. Gompper. 2014. Dogs, diseases and wildlife. In: (M.E. Grompper, ed.) Free-ranging dogs & wildlife conservation. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. pp. 144–169.Search in Google Scholar
Logan, K.A., L.L. Sweanor, J.F. Smith and M.G. Hornocker. 1999. Capturing pumas with foot-hold snares. Wildlife Soc. Bull. 27: 201–208.Search in Google Scholar
López-González, C.A. and G. Lorenzana-Piña. 2002. Carrion use by jaguars (Panthera onca) in Sonora, Mexico. Mammalia 66: 603–605.Search in Google Scholar
Mohr, C.O. 1947 Table of equivalent populations of North American small mammals. Am. Midl. Nat. 37: 223–249.10.2307/2421652Search in Google Scholar
Navarro-Serment, C.J., J.F. Remolina-Suárez and J.J. Pérez-Ramírez. 2007 El jaguar en Yum Balam y el norte de Quintana Roo. In: (G. Ceballos, C. Chávez, R. List and H. Zarza, eds) Conservación y manejo del jaguar en México: estudios de caso y perspectivas. Conabio-Alianza WWF/TelcelUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México. pp. 123–131.Search in Google Scholar
Newsome, T.M., J.A. Dellinger, C.R. Pavey, W.J. Ripple, C.R. Shores, A.J. Wirsing and C.R. Dickman. 2014a. The ecological effects of providing resource subsidies to predators. Global Ecol. Biogeogr. 24: 1–11.10.1111/geb.12236Search in Google Scholar
Newsome, T.M., G.A. Ballard, P.J.S. Fleming, R. Ven, G.L. Story and C.R. Dickman. 2014b. Human-resource subsidies alter the dietary preferences of a mammalian top predator. Oecologia 175: 139–150.10.1007/s00442-014-2889-7Search in Google Scholar
Núñez-Pérez, R. 2006. Patrones de actividad, movimiento y ámbito hogareño del jaguar y del puma en la reserva de la biosfera Chamela-Cuixmala, Jalisco. MSc thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.Search in Google Scholar
Núñez-Pérez, R. 2011. Estimating jaguar population density using camera-traps: a comparison with radio-telemetry estimates. J. Zool. 285: 1–7.10.1111/j.1469-7998.2011.00812.xSearch in Google Scholar
Pérez-Villegas, G. and E. Carrascal. 2000. El desarrollo turístico en Cancún, Quintana Roo y sus consecuencias sobre la cubierta vegetal. Investigación Geográficas, Boletín del Instituto de Geografía UNAM 43: 145–166.10.14350/rig.59129Search in Google Scholar
Polisar, J., I. Maxit, D. Scognamillo, L. Farrell, M.E. Sunquist and J.F. Eisenberg. 2003. Jaguars, pumas, their prey base, and cattle ranching: ecological interpretations of a management problem. Biol. Conserv. 109: 297–310.10.1016/S0006-3207(02)00157-XSearch in Google Scholar
Powell, R.A. 2000. Animal home ranges and territories and home range estimators. In: (L. Boitani and T. Fuller, eds.) Research techniques in animal ecology: controversies and consequences. Columbia University Press, New York. pp. 65–110.Search in Google Scholar
Secretaría de Desarrollo Urbano y Vivienda de Quintana Roo. 2010. Programa de Desarrollo Urbano Centro de Población Playa del Carmen. Secretaría de Desarrollo Urbano y Vivienda-Gobierno del Estado de Quintana Roo, México. http://seduvi.qroo.gob.mx/index.php/programas-de-desarrollo-urbano-pdu-s/Descargas/PDU/detail. Accessed on May 20th 2016.Search in Google Scholar
Rabinowitz, A. and K.A. Zeller. 2010. A range-wide model of landscape connectivity and conservation for the jaguar Panthera onca. Biol. Conserv. 143: 939–945.10.1016/j.biocon.2010.01.002Search in Google Scholar
Remolina-Suárez, J.F. 2014. Reporte de Reubicación de un jaguar que estuvo atacando perros en un asentamiento irregular que invade el territorio de su distribución al Oeste de Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo. Technical report for the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, SEMARNAT.Search in Google Scholar
Riley, S.P.D., J. Pollinger, R.M. Sauvajot, E.C. York, C. Bromley, T.K. Fuller and R.K. Wayne. 2006. A southern California freeway is a physical and social barrier to gene flow in carnivores. Mol. Ecol. 15: 1733–1741.10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.02907.xSearch in Google Scholar PubMed
Rodgers, A.R., A.P. Carr, H.L. Beyer, L. Smith, and J.G. Kie. 2007. HRT: home range tools for ArcGIS – Version 1.1: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.Search in Google Scholar
Rodríguez-Soto, C., O. Monroy-Vilchis, L. Maiorano, L. Boitani, J.C. Faller, M.A. Briones, R. Núñez, O. Rosas-Rosas, G. Ceballos, A. Falcucci. 2011. Predicting potential distribution of the jaguar (Panthera onca) in Mexico: identification of priority áreas for conservation. Divers. Distrib. 17: 350–361.10.1111/j.1472-4642.2010.00740.xSearch in Google Scholar
Rodríguez-Soto, C., O. Monroy-Vilchis and M.M. Zarco-González. 2013. Corridors for jaguar (Panthera onca) in Mexico: Conservation strategies. J. Nat. Conserv. 21: 438–443.10.1016/j.jnc.2013.07.002Search in Google Scholar
Rzedowski, J. 2006. Vegetación de México 1ra. Edición digital, Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad. México.Search in Google Scholar
Siegel, S. and N.J. Castellan. 1995. Estadística no paramétrica aplicada a las ciencias de la conducta. 4th ed. Editorial Trillas S.A., México. pp. 437.Search in Google Scholar
Sikes, R.S., W.L. Gannon and The Animal Care and Use Committee of the American Society of Mammalogists. 2011. Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the use of wild animals in research. J. Mammal. 92: 235–253.10.1644/10-MAMM-F-355.1Search in Google Scholar
Valeix, M., G. Hemson, A.J. Loveridge, G. Mills and D.W. Macdonald. 2012. Behavioural adjustments of a large carnivore to access secondary prey in a human-dominated landscape. J. Appl. Ecol. 49: 73–81.10.1111/j.1365-2664.2011.02099.xSearch in Google Scholar
Worton, B.J. 1989. Kernel methods for estimating the utilization distribution in Home-Range studies. Ecology 70: 164–168.10.2307/1938423Search in Google Scholar
Yirga, G., H.H. De Iongh, H. Leirs, K. Gebrihiwot, J. Deckers and H. Bauer. 2012. Adaptability of large carnivores to changing anthropogenic food sources: diet change of spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) during Christian fasting period in northern Ethiopia. J. Anim. Ecol. 81: 1052–1055.10.1111/j.1365-2656.2012.01977.xSearch in Google Scholar PubMed
©2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
