Abstract
To avoid certain problems encountered with more-traditional and invasive methods in behavioral-ecology studies of mammalian predators, such as felids, molecular approaches have been employed to identify feces found in the field. However, this method requires a complete molecular biology laboratory, and usually also requires very fresh fecal samples to avoid DNA degradation. Both conditions are normally absent in the field. To address these difficulties, identification based on morphological characters (length, color, banding, scales and medullar patterns) of hairs found in feces could be employed as an alternative. In this study we constructed a morphological identification key for guard hairs of eight Neotropical felids (jaguar, oncilla, Geoffroy’s cat, margay, ocelot, Pampas cat, puma and jaguarundi) and compared its efficiency to that of a molecular identification method, using the ATP6 region as a marker. For this molecular approach, we simulated some field conditions by postponing sample-conservation procedures. A blind test of the identification key obtained a nearly 70% overall success rate, which we considered equivalent to or better than the results of some molecular methods (probably due to DNA degradation) found in other studies. The jaguar, puma and jaguarundi could be unequivocally discriminated from any other Neotropical felid. On a scale ranging from inadequate to excellent, the key proved poor only for the margay, with only 30% of its hairs successfully identified using this key; and have intermediate success rates for the remaining species, the oncilla, Geoffroy’s cat, ocelot and Pampas cat, were intermediate. Complementary information about the known distributions of felid populations may be necessary to substantially improve the results obtained with the key. Our own molecular results were even better, since all blind-tested samples were correctly identified. Part of these identifications were made from samples kept in suboptimal conditions, with some samples remaining outdoors for up to seven days, simulating conditions in the field. It appears that both methods can be used, depending on the available laboratory facilities and on the expected results.
Highlights
Traditional behavioral-ecology studies of mammalian predators require often expensive, difficult and invasive methods such as radiotelemetry, where the animal must be captured, sedated, attached to uncomfortable equipment, and followed or its position tracked
The often poor quality of DNA obtained from fecal samples necessitates the use of short sequences for molecular identification, and primers that amplify short sequences, generally fewer than 200 bp
Primers from the ATP6 region described in [3], which amplify a 126-bp segment, are suitable. These primers have been successfully used to identify felid species from fecal samples [10,11,12,13,14,15], even for species with feces that are similar in morphology and size and difficult to distinguish in the field, such as the ocelot and puma [2]
Summary
Traditional behavioral-ecology studies of mammalian predators require often expensive, difficult and invasive methods such as radiotelemetry (or satellite position systems), where the animal must be captured, sedated, attached to uncomfortable equipment, and followed or its position tracked. Whereas traditional methods provide only limited ecological information on the target species or are not cost-effective, analysis of the DNA found in feces, hair bulbs, hair shafts [5] and other tissues of the animal make it possible to identify the species, identity and sex. This allows inferences about the degree of relatedness among individuals, the population size and the genetic inbreeding level, and the composition of their diets [6]. These primers have been successfully used to identify felid species from fecal samples [10,11,12,13,14,15], even for species with feces that are similar in morphology and size and difficult to distinguish in the field, such as the ocelot and puma [2]
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