ABSTRACT
Abstract: Unusual movements of an animal can potentially represent a dispersal event. A higher frequency of young males dispersing is a pattern observed for most part of polygynous or promiscuous mammals with these dispersion events occurring, mainly, before or at the beginning of the breeding season. The water opossum (Chironectes minimus), the only marsupial adapted for semi-aquatic life, occurs from Mexico to Argentina and it has been mostly described as a sensitive species to river and riparian vegetation degradation, occurring exclusively near water curses. Here we describe the first record of long-distance movement of a water opossum not associated with riverine vegetation through dry land. We captured a healthy adult male of C. minimus in July 2012 beside of a highway (DF-001) located 1,100 m from nearest gallery forest in the Federal District. The region is characterized by urban and suburban residential, small fragments of typical savanna and degraded gallery forests. Our unique record could be an event of dispersion through degraded dry lands as observed for other semi-aquatic mammals and also suggests that this species is more resistant to anthropogenic disturbances than previously described. Also, information about dispersal patterns of water opossum is scarce and may contributes to a deeper understanding of ecological requirements of this species.
Resumo: Deslocamentos incomuns realizados por um animal podem representar potencialmente um evento de dispersão. Grande parte dos mamíferos poligínicos ou promíscuos, apresentam uma maior frequência de machos jovens dispersando, e esses eventos ocorrem, principalmente, antes ou no início da estação reprodutiva. A cuíca d'água (Chironectes minimus), único marsupial adaptado à vida semiaquática, ocorre do México à Argentina. Tem sido descrito principalmente como uma espécie sensível à degradação de cursos d'água e matas ciliares, ocorrendo exclusivamente próximo aos cursos d'água. Desta forma, descrevemos aqui o primeiro registro do deslocamento de longa distância de uma cuíca d'água não associado à vegetação ribeirinha através de um ambiente seco. Capturamos um macho adulto saudável de C. minimus em julho de 2012 à margem de uma rodovia (DF-001) localizada a 1.100 m da mata de galeria mais próxima no Distrito Federal. A região é caracterizada por residências urbanas e suburbanas, pequenos fragmentos de cerrado sentido restrito e matas de galeria degradadas. Nosso registro singular pode ser um evento de dispersão através de ambientes secos antropizados, conforme observado para outros mamíferos semiaquáticos, o que, também, sugere que esta espécie é mais resistente a distúrbios antropogênicos do que descrito anteriormente. Além disso, as informações sobre os padrões de dispersão da cuíca d'água são escassas e podem contribuir para um entendimento mais profundo dos requisitos ecológicos desta espécie.
ABSTRACT
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 (peerreviewed 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 largescale 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.
ABSTRACT
Fragmented habitats generally harbour small populations that are potentially more prone to local extinctions caused by biotic factors such as parasites. We evaluated the effects of botflies (Cuterebra apicalis) on naturally fragmented populations of the gracile mouse opossum (Gracilinanus agilis). We examined how sex, food supplementation experiment, season and daily climatic variables affected body condition and haemoglobin concentration in animals that were parasitized or not by botflies. Although parasitism did not affect body condition, haemoglobin concentrations were lower in parasitized animals. Among the non-parasitized individuals, haemoglobin concentration increased with the increase of maximum temperature and the decrease of relative humidity, a climatic pattern found at the peak of the dry season. However, among parasitized animals, the opposite relationship between haemoglobin concentration and relative humidity occurred, as a consequence of parasite-induced anaemia interacting with dehydration as an additional stressor. We conclude that it is critical to assess how climate affects animal health (through blood parameters) to understand the population consequences of parasitism on the survival of individuals and hence of small population viability.
Subject(s)
Diptera/physiology , Ecosystem , Host-Parasite Interactions , Myiasis/veterinary , Opossums , Animals , Brazil/epidemiology , Diptera/growth & development , Female , Larva/physiology , Male , Myiasis/epidemiology , Myiasis/parasitology , SeasonsABSTRACT
Composição e diversidade de mamíferos de médio e grande porte no Cerrado do Brasil central. Estudos com mamíferos de médio e grande porte (>1,0 kg) em áreas alteradas no Cerrado revelam que muitas espécies se adaptam aos ambientes antropizados. Foi investigada a estrutura da comunidade de mamíferos em uma área de 92.000 ha localizada no sudoeste baiano e constituída por plantios de Pinus spp., soja e faixas de cerrado sentido restrito. Os mamíferos foram registrados ao longo de nove campanhas de 12 dias, entre janeiro/2008 e maio/2009, no período diurno e noturno através de transectos lineares variando entre 5-15 km de extensão e que totalizaram 3.600 km percorridos/período. Foram registradas 29 espécies, sendo 23 através dos transectos lineares e as demais por observação indireta, captura e registros pretéritos. A comunidade é constituída em sua maioria por representantes da ordem Carnivora (41,4 por cento) e espécies onívoras (36,7 por cento), sendo Lycalopex vetulus a única espécie endêmica do Cerrado registrada na área. Apenas 13,6 por cento das espécies foram frequentes em todas as campanhas (Ozotoceros bezoarticus, Pecari tajacu e Tolypeutes tricinctus) e sete delas correspondem a 91,73 por cento dos registros realizados. O tatu-bola (T. tricinctus) representou o maior número de registros (23,76 por cento) e provavelmente a área de estudo abriga a maior população dessa espécie ameaçada no bioma, destacando a importância em evitar que as áreas de vegetação nativa sejam substituídas por monoculturas e reflorestamento. Muitas das espécies registradas são generalistas no uso do habitat e amplamente distribuídas pelo bioma, ocorrendo inclusive em ambientes alterados. Considera-se que a manutenção da diversidade observada na área é decorrente de sua grande extensão e do mosaico de ambientes que proporcionam uma maior variedade e diversidade de recursos, como abrigo e alimento, possibilitando inclusive a presença de espécies com baixas densidades e especialistas na dieta e habitat.
Composition and diversity of medium and large size mammals in the Cerrado of central Brazil. Studies about medium- and large sized mammals (> 1.0 kg) in disturbed areas in the Cerrado showed that many species are adapted to anthropogenic environments. We investigated the structure of mammals assemblages in an area of 92,000 ha located in southwest of Bahia and covered by plantations of Pinus spp., soybeans and conserved strips of cerrado sensu stricto. The mammals were recorded in nine sampling campaigns of 12 days between January/2008 and May/2009 in diurnal and nocturnal transects that varied 5-15 km in length per campaigns totaling 3,600 km traveled/period. In this area 29 species were recorded, 23 through the line transect and others outside transect by indirect observation, capture and previous records. The mammal community consists mostly of representatives of the Carnivora (41.4 percent) and omnivore species (36.7 percent). The only endemic species of Cerrado recorded in the area was hoary fox, Lycalopex vetulus. Only 13.6 percent of species were present in all sampling (Ozotoceros bezoarticus, Pecari tajacu and Tolypeutes tricinctus) and seven of which correspond to 91.73 percent of the records made. The species that had largest number of records (23.76 percent) is three-banded armadillo (T. tricinctus), probably this area holds the largest population of this endangered species in biome, highlighting the importance of avoiding areas of native vegetation are replaced by monocultures and reforestation. Many of the species recorded are generalists in habitat use and widely distributed throughout the biome, occurring even in disturbed habitats. The maintaining of observed diversity in this area is due to its large size and the mosaic of environments that provide a greater variety and diversity of resources such as shelter and food, allowing also the presence of species with low densities and specialists in the diet and habitat.
ABSTRACT
The first report of infection caused by maggots of the botfly Metacuterebra apicalis (Guérin-Méneville) on miceopossums Gracilinanus agilis (Burmeister) is presented. The examined individuals collected in the cerrado vegetation in Brasilia, DF, Brazil, showed infections in ventral area of the body, around genital organs. Two botflies (male and female) emerged in a period of 29 to 31 days.
