The response of a landscape species, white-lipped peccaries, to seasonal resource fluctuations in a tropical wetland, the Brazilian pantanal

Abstract

Local extinctions of white-lipped peccary, due to habitat fragmentation and hunting, have been reported throughout its vast geographical range. Recent studies have shown that their role as fruit predators and dispersers affects the biodiversity of certain forest habitats. Fruits may be reduced in deforested habitats, so documenting fruit availability and use is critical to peccary conservation efforts and forest biodiversity. Our 5 year research was based in the lower- middle Rio Negro, southern Pantanal of Brazil, a well-preserved region where cattle-related impacts are minimal. We have been investigating the habitat and feeding requirements of white-lipped, while surveying resource availability. Based on monthly fruit surveys in different habitats, we know that spatial and temporal variability of fruits is high. Marked periods of fruit scarcity occur during the year and gallery forest fruit counts were the highest. Habitat use trends indicated that there is a strong association between white-lipped peccaries and forested areas, especially gallery forest. White-lipped peccaries depended less on single dominant fruits, and their diets showed greater seasonal variation, i.e. they consumed a much greater diversity of fruits in the wet season. Fruit richness and quantity was higher during the wet season, (65 spp. - wet; 33 spp. - dry). The dry season could be considered a period of fruit scarcity in terms diversity and quantity. We expect these periods to affect peccary movements and range requirements. The non random use of habitats observed for white-lipped, illustrate the importance of habitat diversity, especially diversity of forest types and their associated fruiting species. Preventing further deforestation of an already naturally patchy habitat are priorities for conservation in the pantanal. Key words: Landscape species, pantanal, seasonal frugivory, white-lipped peccary, fruit scarcity, conservation.