Free ranging dogs and cats in protected areas: factors that favor invasion

• Grant number: 18/07886-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: January 17, 2019
• End date: January 16, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Applied Zoology
• Principal Investigator: Rita de Cassia Bianchi
• Grantee: Rita de Cassia Bianchi
• Host Investigator: Matthew E. Gompper
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Missouri, Columbia (UM), United States

Abstract

Habitat loss and fragmentation are primarily responsible for the reduction of populations of carnivores mammals. The scenario is even more critical in regions where agricultural expansion is intense and as a consequence species losses may be higher in biomes considered hotspots. Impacts on carnivores populations may be potentiated as a result of an increasing and significant threat, the introduction of exotic species such as free ranging dogs and cats. Larger species are expected to be the most affected by anthropic impacts and their absence leads to increased entry of dogs and cats into protected areas. Thus, the entry of exotic species can make this scenario even more complex, leading to changes throughout the mammal community. The main objective of the project will be to evaluate the main factors that favor the entry of exotic species such as dogs and cats in protected areas, as well as to understand the spatial and temporal co-occurrence among these species. Data from North American and Brazilian protected areas will be analyzed and the uniqueness of the relationships between exotic and wild carnivores will be analyzed in different contexts. The results will guide management and conservation measures both for the evaluated areas, many of them protected areas still without management plan, as well as for the species of carnivores, among them many endangered species.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BIANCHI, RITA; JENKINS, JULIANNA M. A.; LESMEISTER, DAMON B.; GOUVEA, JESSICA ABONIZIO; CESARIO, CLARICE SILVA; FORNITANO, LARISSA; DE OLIVEIRA, MATEUS YAN; DE MORAIS, KIMBERLY DANIELLE RODRIGUES; RIBEIRO, RENAN LIETO ALVES; GOMPPER, MATTHEW E.. Tayra (Eira barbara) landscape use as a function of cover types, forest protection, and the presence of puma and free-ranging dogs. Biotropica, v. 53, n. 6, JUL 2021. (17/03501-1, 18/07886-8, 13/18526-9, 17/06060-6, 18/15793-0)

VERDADE, LUCIANO M.; BIANCHI, RITA C.; GALETTI, PEDRO M.; PIVELLO, VANIA R.; SILVA, WESLEY R.; UEZU, ALEXANDRE. Biodiversity Management and Research in Multifunctional Landscapes. Biota Neotropica, v. 22, p. 7-pg., 2022-01-01. (13/18526-9, 17/01304-4, 19/19429-3, 16/19106-1, 13/19377-7, 18/07886-8, 10/52315-7, 09/16906-3, 99/05123-4, 17/23548-2)