Jaguar Conservation Research Articles

Estimación de poblaciones de jaguar (Panthera onca) en el Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Se estimó la población de jaguares del Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG), al noroeste de Costa Rica, mediante el uso de cámaras trampa. Se aplicó el método de captura-recaptura para obtener la abundancia y se calculó la densidad según el área efectiva de muestreo. Para el Sector San Cristóbal el área efectiva de muestreo fue 164,81 km2. La abundancia se estimó en 9,50 ± 7,7 jaguares y la densidad fue 0,057 ± 0,046 ind/km2. El área efectiva de muestreo para los parques nacionales Santa Rosa y Guanacaste fue 103,92 km2. La abundancia encontrada fue 3,00 ± 2,46 jaguares para una densidad de 0,028 ± 0,023 ind/km2. Los resultados resaltan que aún no es posible estimar el número total de jaguares por encontrarse valores tan diferentes entre los dos sectores muestreados. Con base en este estudio se rediseñó una Unidad de Conservación del Jaguar (UCJ) propuesta por expertos para el noroeste de Costa Rica, ya que la cordillera de Guanacaste probablemente presenta una alta densidad de jaguares.

Qualidade de ambiente para a onça-pintada, puma e jaguatirica na Baía de Guaratuba, Estado do Paraná, utilizando os aplicativos Capture e Presence

Environmental quality for jaguar, puma and ocelot in Guaratuba Bay, State of Paraná, using the programs Capture and Presence. Two month-long expeditions to Guaratuba Bay in the southern Atlantic Forest of Brazil were conducted in 2006. Parameters calculated from vestiges and camera-trap sampling were mammalian richness and proportion of area occupied (PAO) by jaguar, puma, and opportunistically, by ocelot. Eight quadrats 4km2 in size were sampled, over an area of 130km2, where fourteen species of mammals were recorded (CI(Nˆ )=14 to 14, CAPTURE). PAO was 25% for puma, and 100% for both jaguar and ocelot. It is argued that jaguar was expected to have capture probabilities similar to those of puma, as they both leave signs on open trails when present. The resulting PAO for jaguar is thus likely to be an artifact derived from low area fi delity and/or low density, rather than a product of the species’ low detection probability. This conjecture is substantiated by the reduced presence of important prey species in many of the sampling quadrats. The results do not diminish the importance of the study site for jaguar conservation; instead, these observations objectively identify the need to restore prey populations in the area.

One thousand jaguars (Panthera onca) in Bolivia's Chaco? Camera trapping in the Kaa‐Iya National Park

AbstractThis paper reports on efforts to trap jaguars Panthera onca on camera in the dry forests of the Kaa‐Iya del Gran Chaco National Park in Bolivia. Ad hoc camera trapping provided certain information on jaguar presence and habits, but was limited in application. Activity patterns showed that jaguars are active all day, particularly at one of three sites, with peaks in the morning and evening the more common pattern. Minimum observed home range was variable, with males (up to 65 km2) occupying more area than females (up to 29 km2). The authors adapted systematic methodologies first developed to survey tigers in India, based on individually distinctive pelage patterns in tigers and jaguars. Abundance is estimated using capture–recapture statistical analysis, and a sample area defined based on the maximum distance that individual jaguars move during the sample period. The methodology has proved successful for jaguars in dry Chaco forest, population densities of 1/30–45 km2 and 1/20 km2 are estimated in the two most extensive landscape systems of Kaa‐Iya. The entire 34 400 km2 protected area is estimated to sustain a population of over 1000 adult and juvenile jaguars, the largest single population of jaguar reported anywhere, and a viable population for long‐term jaguar conservation.

Planning to Save a Species: the Jaguar as a Model.

International conservation planning at the end of the twentieth century is dominated by coarse-filter, supra-organismal approaches to conservation that may be insufficient to conserve certain species such as the jaguar ( Panthera onca). If we are to retain broadly distributed species into the next century, we need to plan explicitly for their survival across their entire geographic range and through political boundaries while recognizing the variety of ecological roles the species plays in different habitats. In March 1999 the Wildlife Conservation Society sponsored a priority-setting and planning exercise for the jaguar across its range, from northern Mexico to northern Argentina. Field scientists from 18 countries reached consensus on four types of information: (1) the spatial extent of their jaguar knowledge, (2) the known, currently occupied range of jaguars, (3) areas with substantial jaguar populations, adequate habitat, and a stable and diverse prey base, and (4) point localities where jaguars have been observed during the last 10 years. During the exercise, these experts also conducted a range-wide assessment of the long-term survival prospects of the jaguar and developed an algorithm for prioritizing jaguar conservation units occurring in major habitat types. From this work, we learned that the known, occupied range of the jaguar has contracted to approximately 46% of estimates of its 1900 range. Jaguar status and distribution is unknown in another 12% of the jaguar's former range, including large areas in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. But over 70% of the area where jaguars are thought to still occur was rated as having a high probability of supporting their long-term survival. Fifty-one jaguar conservation units representing 30 different jaguar geographic regions were prioritized as the basis for a comprehensive jaguar conservation program.