Demography and genetic variability of the puma (Puma concolor) and ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in the Caetetus Ecological Station - SP: importance for conservation of these felines

• Grant number: 10/13253-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2011
• End date: February 28, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Manoel Galetti Junior
• Grantee: Bruno Henrique Saranholi
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The human intervention increasingly intense in the environment has caused profound changes in natural populations, which may induce them to extinction in the most extreme situations. Some groups, such as the felines, are more injured by these changes due to its characteristics such as low density and requirement of large areas of life. The more intense pressures suffered by these animals are the loss and fragmentation of habitat, reducing the food availability and restricting them to small areas. In an attempt to minimize this impact on populations, the detection of the population density and the genetic characterization are studies needed for that acts are proposed for conservation. The application of molecular markers with the use of noninvasive samples is one of the tools that enable such works. In this sense, the main objective of this work is obtain the minimal population size, estimate the population density and the genetic variability of the populations of two endangered species of felines, the puma (Puma concolor) and ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) from the non-invasive sample collection and with the use of microsatellites in the Caetetus Ecological Station-SP, one of the last remnants of Atlantic Forest in the interior of São Paulo state.