Mercury content in the fur of jaguars (Panthera onca) from two areas under different levels of gold mining impact in the Brazilian Pantanal

<div><p>ABSTRACT The Pantanal is the largest inland wetland in the world and is under increasing anthropogenic threats, including long-term regionally intensive gold mining practices. Gold mining activities are known to cause the release of harmful pollutants such as mercury (Hg) to the surrounding environment. Jaguars (Panthera onca (Linnaeus, 1758)) are apex predators, and therefore show great potential to accumulate Hg by biomagnification. We hypothesize that total Hg content in the fur of jaguars from two sites within the Brazilian Pantanal would be significantly different as a function of distance from active gold mining operations. The Hg content was determined by fluorescence spectrometry. The mean ± SD Hg content in jaguars from the study site influenced by gold mining (SB) was compared to jaguars sampled in the area free of gold mining activities (CA) using a one-way ANOVA. The mean Hg content in jaguars from SB (673.0 ± 916.8 µg g-1) is significantly different from jaguars sampled in CA (29.7 ± 23.3 µg g-1), p = 0.03. The maximum recorded content of Hg was 2,010.4 ± 150.5 µg g-1, highest level ever recorded in a wild animal. The data indicate that Hg is an important threat to jaguars within at-risk regions of the Pantanal.</p></div

Resource selection in an apex predator and variation in response to local landscape characteristics

Habitat loss and fragmentation represent major threats for the conservation of apex predators, such as the jaguar (Panthera onca). Investigating species’ resource selection behavior in response to landscape alteration is critical for developing relevant conservation management plans. The jaguar is found across a variety of habitats with different gradients of human disturbance, making them a good candidate to study how apex predators respond to increasing intensity of human land use. We developed resource selection models to characterize patterns of jaguar resource selection at two different spatial scales, home range (coarse) and foraging scale (fine). This analysis was based on the largest existing GPS-location dataset for jaguars (n = 40 individuals, n = 87,376 locations), spanning the species’ geographic range in Brazil and Argentina. We found that both males and females jaguars exhibited an overall preference for forests and areas close to watercourses at both the home range and foraging scale. At the foraging scale, areas of high livestock density “attracted” male jaguars. We also performed a follow-up analysis to test for context-dependent resource selection (i.e., functional responses) by relating individual behavior to local habitat characteristics. We found that jaguars in heavily-forested landscapes showed strong avoidance of non-forest. Furthermore, we found that only the individuals in closest proximity to watercourses showed positive selection for water. Our results highlight that jaguars display different patterns of resource selection in different areas, demonstrating a considerable ability to use or tolerate a wide variety of different conditions across the species geographic range. This plasticity may allow jaguars to adjust their behavior according to land use changes but also increases human-jaguar conflict and jaguar mortality, especially in areas with high livestock density.Fil: Morato, Ronaldo G.. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade; Brasil. Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. Conservation Ecology Center; Estados Unidos. Instituto Pró-carnívoros; BrasilFil: Connette, G.M.. Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. Conservation Ecology Center; Estados UnidosFil: Stabach, J.A.. Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. Conservation Ecology Center; Estados UnidosFil: De Paula, R.C.. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade; Brasil. Instituto Pró-carnívoros; BrasilFil: Ferraz, K.M.P.M.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; Brasil. Instituto Pró-carnívoros; BrasilFil: Kantek, D.L.Z.. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade; BrasilFil: Miyazaki, Silvia Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade; BrasilFil: Pereira, T.D.C.. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade; BrasilFil: Silva, L.C.. Universidade Federal de Viçosa; BrasilFil: Paviolo, Agustin Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; Argentina. Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico; ArgentinaFil: de Angelo, Carlos Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; Argentina. Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico; ArgentinaFil: Di Bitetti, Mario Santiago. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; Argentina. Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico; ArgentinaFil: Cruz, María Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; Argentina. Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico; ArgentinaFil: Lima, F.. Univesidade Estadual de São Paulo; Brasil. Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas; BrasilFil: Cullen Jr., Laury. Univesidade Estadual de São Paulo; BrasilFil: Sana, D.A.. Instituto Pró-carnívoros; Brasil. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Ramalho, E.E.. Instituto Pró-carnívoros; Brasil. Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá; BrasilFil: Carvalho, M.M.. Instituto de Defesa e Preservação dos Felídeos Brasileiros; BrasilFil: da Silva, M.X.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Moraes, M.D.F.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Vogliotti, Ana. Instituto Pró-carnívoros; Brasil. Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana; BrasilFil: May Jr., J.A.. Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina; Brasil. Associação Onçafari; BrasilFil: Haberfeld, M.. Associação Onçafari; BrasilFil: Rampim, L.. Associação Onçafari; BrasilFil: Sartorello, L.. Associação Onçafari; BrasilFil: Araujo, G.R.. Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul; BrasilFil: Wittemyer, G.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Ribeiro, M.C.. Univesidade Estadual de São Paulo; BrasilFil: Leimgruber, P.. Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. Conservation Ecology Center; Estados Unido

Boxplot and Posterior Density Estimates for male and female home range (log km²) [A and B], home range crossing time (log days) [C and D], velocity autocorrelation timescale (h) [E and F], and average distance traveled (Km/day) [G and H].

<p>Black line represents the difference between the posterior distribution of males and females, red represents the posterior distribution of females and blue represents the posterior distribution of males.</p

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

<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

Movement parameters and home range sizes for GPS-collared jaguar across Brazil and Argentina biomes.

<p>Home ranges were estimated via 95% Kernel Density Estimates (KDE) and Autocorrelated Kernel Density Estimates (AKDE)<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0168176#t002fn001" target="_blank">¹</a>.</p

Extent and conservation status of remaining habitat in Brazil’s major biomes and a portion of Atlantic Forest in Argentina.

<p>Jaguars are considered vulnerable in the Amazon and Pantanal, endangered in the Cerrado and critically endangered in the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0168176#pone.0168176.ref014" target="_blank">14</a>,<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0168176#pone.0168176.ref015" target="_blank">15</a>].</p