Effect of domestic dogs on the armadillo activity pattern

• Grant number: 21/01057-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2021
• End date: July 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Rita de Cassia Bianchi
• Grantee: Letícia Rodrigues Moretto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/08734-2 - Spatiotemporal interactions between dogs and armadillos in protected areas in Brazil, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

The first species that was domesticated by humans is dogs (Canis familiaris), which descend from the grey wolf (Canis lupus). Currently, this species contributed to the extinction of 11 vertebrate species and threatens other 118 species. Among the species that can be affected by the dogs are the armadillos, not only by predation, but due the alteration of their activity pattern, since they can have a huge energy loss because of this alteration for most expensive times to the thermoregulation. Thus, I will evaluate if dogs affect the activity time of armadillos in protected areas of São Paulo state and the difference in the record time of dogs and armadillos in comparison to the record time of these animals with other non-predatory species. For this, we intend to evaluate the data from cameras trap of these sites, from 2011 to 2017. I will calculate the probability of density distribution by the kernel density estimation and the overlap coefficient, comparing this overlap in areas with and without dogs. Finally, I will identify if the armadillos avoid dogs, by the difference of armadillo records after the dog record in this sample point. These informations will be crucial to understanding of the role of dogs in protected areas as well as in proposing management and conservation measures.