Identification of conflict zones between jaguars and livestock activity in Brazil

The conflict with humans has been one of the main threats to wild carnivores, driven by the predation of cattle, which happens due to the destruction of habitat for the establishment of pasture areas, reduction of the base of natural prey, bad techniques of cattle management and by opportunistic behavior or learned by the predator. Based on this, in this dissertation, we explored the conflict between ranchers and jaguars in scientific works and identified the main environmental and anthropogenic predictors influencing the risk of cattle predation by jaguars in Brazil, with this study consisting of two chapters. The first chapter is a systematic review carried out with all the scientific work on the conflict between ranchers and jaguars from 1990 to 2018. We noticed the existence of some common themes in the studies, such as: predation of cattle; environmental and anthropic predictors influencing livestock predation; retaliatory hunting; human perception about the conflict and the jaguar; mitigating recommendations; management applied on farms and evaluated recommendations. It was identified: the need for further studies for the Cerrado and Caatinga, the evaluation of proposed mitigation methods and the application of better livestock management techniques. In the second chapter, we evaluate the importance of environmental and anthropogenic predictors in the predation of cattle by jaguars and map the risk of predation in Brazil. The best GLM model generated (AIC = 563.32) was represented by the variables environmental suitability for the species, herd density, distance from hydrography and number of rural properties, with this order of explanatory power for the risk of predation. Low environmental suitability combined with anthropogenic predictors such as low herd density and numerous rural properties, represented the most apt scenario for the predation of cattle by jaguars, similar to what happens in the Cerrado, Atlantic Forest and in the arc of deforestation in the Amazon.CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível SuperiorDissertação (Mestrado)O conflito com humanos tem sido uma das principais ameaças aos carnívoros selvagens, impulsionado pela predação de gado, que passa a ocorrer devido à destruição de habitat para o estabelecimento de áreas de pastagem, diminuição da base de presas naturais, técnicas ruins de manejo de gado e por comportamento oportunista ou aprendido pelo predador. Com base nisso, nessa dissertação, exploramos o conflito entre pecuaristas e onças-pintadas em trabalhos científicos e identificamos os principais preditores ambientais e antropogênicos influentes no risco de predação de gado por onças-pintadas no Brasil, sendo esse estudo composto por dois capítulos. O primeiro capítulo trata-se de uma revisão sistemática realizada com todos os trabalhos científicos a respeito de conflito entre pecuaristas e onças-pintadas de 1990 a 2018. Percebemos a existência de temáticas comuns aos estudos, como: predação de gado bovino; preditores ambientais e antrópicos influentes na predação de gado; caça retaliatória; percepção humana sobre o conflito e sobre a onça-pintada; recomendações mitigatórias; manejo aplicado em fazendas e recomendações avaliadas. Foi identificada a necessidade de mais estudos para o Cerrado e Caatinga, a avaliação de métodos mitigatórios propostos e aplicação de melhores técnicas de manejo de gado. No segundo capítulo, avaliamos a importância dos preditores ambientais e antropogênicos na predação de gado por onças-pintadas e mapeamos o risco de predação no Brasil. O melhor modelo GLM gerado (AIC=563.32) foi representado pelas variáveis adequabilidade ambiental para a espécie, densidade do rebanho, distância da hidrografia e número de propriedades rurais, com essa ordem de poder de explicação para o risco de predação. Baixa adequabilidade ambiental somada com preditores antropogênicos como baixa densidade de rebanho e propriedades rurais numerosas, representou o cenário mais apto à predação de gado por onças-pintadas, a exemplo do que acontece no Cerrado, Mata Atlântica e no arco do desmatamento na Amazônia

AMAZONIA CAMTRAP: A data set of mammal, bird, and reptile species recorded with camera traps in the Amazon forest

The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on Earth. However, information on Amazonian vertebrate diversity is still deficient and scattered across the published, peer-reviewed, and gray literature and in unpublished raw data. Camera traps are an effective non-invasive method of surveying vertebrates, applicable to different scales of time and space. In this study, we organized and standardized camera trap records from different Amazon regions to compile the most extensive data set of inventories of mammal, bird, and reptile species ever assembled for the area. The complete data set comprises 154,123 records of 317 species (185 birds, 119 mammals, and 13 reptiles) gathered from surveys from the Amazonian portion of eight countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela). The most frequently recorded species per taxa were: mammals: Cuniculus paca (11,907 records); birds: Pauxi tuberosa (3713 records); and reptiles: Tupinambis teguixin (716 records). The information detailed in this data paper opens up opportunities for new ecological studies at different spatial and temporal scales, allowing for a more accurate evaluation of the effects of habitat loss, fragmentation, climate change, and other human-mediated defaunation processes in one of the most important and threatened tropical environments in the world. The data set is not copyright restricted; please cite this data paper when using its data in publications and we also request that researchers and educators inform us of how they are using these data

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data