Overlap in activity patterns between big cats and their main prey in northern Quintana Roo, Mexico

Abstract

Activity patterns have been explained as one of the axes that allow the niche segregation, which helps explain the coexistence of species, researchers have overlooked the relevance of these and their effects on the community dynamics. At northern Quintana Roo, Mexico, activity patterns of jaguar ( Panthera onca ), puma ( Puma concolor ) and 18 potential preys were evaluated by camera trapping in 2008, 2010 - 2012. The objectives were determining the overlap in circadian cycles between pumas, jaguars and potential prey to know if their activity patterns change over time. For the study only independent records of all species were considered, the overlap in activity patterns was evaluated using the coefficient of overlap ( d ). Bootstrap confidence intervals for coefficient of overlap were calculated at 95 % level based on 1,000 bootstrap replicates of the observed overlap coefficient. It is assumed that the activity data are generated by a circular distribution; thus activity patterns between pairs of species were compared by the nonparametric statistical test of Watson and Wheeler. Both predators were active throughout the day but are primarily nocturnal-twilight with estimated overlap coefficient of 0.87, their activity patterns changed over the years, factors like human activity and fair near to the reserve affect the activity, this factors modified the activity of both cats. Both cats had a temporal association with seven potential preys. The temporal segregation was given by the peaks of activity and spatial evasion. This study allows us understand temporal segregation strategies between felines and the factors that influencing changes in their activity patterns, although both cats have a high overlap in time. A detailed analysis shows that they modified their activity patterns through the years, this resulted after changes in the environment (human activity, fair near to the reserve, distribution and abundance prey), and this in turn causes a change in activity patterns of both felines evading each other.