New tecnology tests in a study of movement and landscape use by Ramphastos toco

• Grant number: 16/03872-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2016
• End date: February 28, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Milton Cezar Ribeiro
• Grantee: Stephanie Marucci de Souza
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

An important factor to be considered in anthropized areas is the movement and the landscape use by animal species, once impacts induced by human actions could affect the animal - seed dispersal interactions and the natural regeneration of plant population. The habitat use patterns shows how the abundance and the community composition are influenced by the characteristics of remaining forest areas and the environment around. Ramphastos toco is the biggest member of the toucans family and the only one which occurs in open and fragmented areas. Therefore, this project aim to discover and apply the best approach for the movement study of Ramphastos toco, as well as test it in field, correlating with the landscape characteristics. As a first step, we intend to make some captivity tests in order to check the best way to use and fix the new equipment in progress by Microsoft Research; besides laboratory tests, where we will identify the most appropriate battery for this kind of research. The second part includes the field tests, where we aim to answer the question: What is the landscape contribution on presence and movement of Ramphastos toco? Our hypothesis says that although these animals are often sighted in anthropic areas, they may depend of the fragment forest resources, connecting habitats in areas that are in continuous contact with the human population. Our response variable will be the intense landscape use by R. toco and our explanatory variables will be the fragments size and the landscape heterogeneity. In the analysis will be applied the model selection with multiple competing hypothesis and for the selection of the best pattern will be used the Akaike´s Information Criterion. We hope that this research can prove the R. toco dependence of the fragments forest, besides to show the effectivity of the new equipment for measurement of animal movement.