Abstract
Understanding the diversity of a community and its dynamics is especially important in altered habitats such as agricultural fields, where this information can help biodiversity conservation programs. In an altered landscape of the interior Atlantic Forest, western Parana State, Brazil (25o41’ to 25o20’S and 53o56’ to 54o35’W), samples (310) were collected and a total of 110 samples could be determined for some small Neotropical felids, including 39 Leopardus guttulus (oncilla), 38 L. wiedii (margay) and 33 Puma yagouaroundi (jaguarondi). The diets of these felids contained typical synanthropic prey such as Mus musculus in 44% (L. guttulus), 32% (L. wiedii) and 15% (P. yagouaroundi) of the total samples. This observation and the sample collection in agricultural places demonstrate that felids can use this anthropized landscape. The small mammals (<100 g) were more common in the diet of these species. Nevertheless, the correction factor was shown to have significant efficiency in correcting estimates of biomass ingested for two of the three species of felids, and we therefore recommend that these species be used in future studies. Even with this observed coexistence, the food niche of the three species showed a large overlap.
Highlights
Knowing how a species uses and shares resources is essential for understanding the mechanisms that allow the coexistence of species, since diferences in resource use may be a key factor in a competitive scenery (SCHOENER 1974) and may determine the diversity in a community (PULLIAM, 2000; DAVIES et al, 2007; DI BITETTI et al, 2010)
Since L. guttulus, L. wiedii and P. yagouaroundi are known in the interior Atlantic Forest, a region that has undergone great disturbance in natural habitat, and since the information on feeding habitat for these small wildcat species is anecdotal, the objectives of this study were: (1) to provide information on the diet breadth and food niche overlap for these three species when in sympatry; and (2) to develop and test correction factors for the biomass consumed by L. guttulus and L. wiedii
The study locality belongs to the ecoregion of the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest or interior Atlantic Forest (DE ANGELO et al, 2011), which up to the middle of the last century consisted of submontane semi-deciduous forest and alluvial forest (SALAMUNI et al, 1999)
Summary
Knowing how a species uses and shares resources is essential for understanding the mechanisms that allow the coexistence of species (e.g., guild of small Neotropical felids), since diferences in resource use may be a key factor in a competitive scenery (SCHOENER 1974) and may determine the diversity in a community (PULLIAM, 2000; DAVIES et al, 2007; DI BITETTI et al, 2010). Competition for resources may be expected in guilds if morphological and behavioral similarity exists between species, when competitive exclusion of subordinate species may be a consequence (DONADIO; BUSKIRK, 2006; MEACHEN-SAMUELS; VALKENBURGH, 2009; MORIN, 2011). Among the resource partition factors, there can be a partition in horizontal (type) and vertical (forest stratum) habitat, time and diet (AUGUST, 1983; DAYAN; SIMBERLOFF, 1998; DI BITETTI et al, 2010). The feeding habit permeates every aspect of the life history of an animal, where it is essential to understand the ecology of a species (CRAWSHAW; QUIGLEY, 2002)
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