15 research outputs found

    Cytogenetics of Imparfinis schubarti (Siluriformes: Heptapteridae) from the Piumhi drainage, a diverted river in Minas Gerais State, Brazil

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    Specimens of Imparfinis schubarti (Gomes, 1956) collected in the Piumhi river drainage, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, were studied cytogenetically. The river was diverted from the Rio Grande Basin into the São Francisco basin in the early 1960s. All individuals presented 2n = 58 chromosomes, including 18 metacentric, 34 submetacentric and six subtelocentric chromosomes. A secondary constriction was observed in the interstitial region of the long arm of the largest chromosome pair, coinciding with the NOR. A single conspicuous heterochromatic block located in the largest pair of metacentric chromosomes was observed, adjacent to the secondary constriction. A detectable 18S rDNA probe hybridization region occurs in only one chromosome pair and is synthenic with the marking obtained with 5S rDNA probe. These results fit the cytogenetic pattern previously described for the genus Imparfinis Eigenmann & Norris, 1900

    Extensive aquatic subsidies lead to territorial breakdown and high density of an apex predator

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    Energetic subsidies between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems can strongly influence food webs and population dynamics. Our objective was to study how aquatic subsidies affected jaguar (Panthera onca) diet, sociality, and population density in a seasonally flooded protected area in the Brazilian Pantanal. The diet (n = 138 scats) was dominated by fish (46%) and aquatic reptiles (55%), representing the first jaguar population known to feed extensively on fish and to minimally consume mammals (11%). These aquatic subsidies supported the highest jaguar population density estimate to date (12.4 jaguars/100 km²) derived from camera traps (8,065 trap nights) and GPS collars (n = 13). Contrary to their mostly solitary behavior elsewhere, we documented social interactions previously unobserved between same-sex adults including cooperative fishing, co-traveling, and play. Our study demonstrates that aquatic subsidies, frequently described in omnivores, can also transform the ecology and behavior of obligate carnivores

    Space use and movement of a Neotropical top predator: the endangered Jaguar

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    Não foi disponibilizado o número de páginas, pois não consta no arquivo.Accurately estimating home range and understanding movement behavior can provide important information on ecological processes. Advances in data collection and analysis have improved our ability to estimate home range and movement parameters, both of which have the potential to impact species conservation. Fitting continuous-time movement model to data and incorporating the autocorrelated kernel density estimator (AKDE), we investigated range residency of forty-four jaguars fit with GPS collars across five biomes in Brazil and Argentina. We assessed home range and movement parameters of range resident animals and compared AKDE estimates with kernel density estimates (KDE). We accounted for differential space use and movement among individuals, sex, region, and habitat quality. Thirty-three (80%) of collared jaguars were range resident. Home range estimates using AKDE were 1.02 to 4.80 times larger than KDE estimates that did not consider autocorrelation. Males exhibited larger home ranges, more directional movement paths, and a trend towards larger distances traveled per day. Jaguars with the largest home ranges occupied the Atlantic Forest, a biome with high levels of deforestation and high human population density. Our results fill a gap in the knowledge of the species’ ecology with an aim towards better conservation of this endangered/critically endangered carnivore—the top predator in the Neotropic

    Space Use and Movement of a Neotropical Top Predator: The Endangered Jaguar - Fig 2

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    <p>(A) Variogram of a resident jaguar. Notice that the animal’s semi-variance reaches an asymptote within a few days, roughly representing the time to cross its home range. The red line represents the fitted model and the red shading represents the 95% CI. (B) A non-resident jaguar. Note the lack of a clear asymptote despite the fact that the animal was monitored for a long period (591 days). This lack of asymptote indicates that this animal is not range resident and thus a home range analysis for this individual is not appropriate. For both A and B, the fraction of the variogram displayed is 65% of the duration of each dataset.</p
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