Ecologia alimentar de mamíferos carnívoros neotropicais: revelando padrões de uso de recursos e predizendo interações tróficas

Author(s)

Lívia Ribeiro Cruz

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia
• Defense date: 2021-08-13

Examining board members

Mathias Mistretta Pires; Maíra Benchimol; Marcelo Magioli

• Advisor: Mathias Mistretta Pires

Abstract

This dissertation is anchored in the importance of the knowledge concerning trophic ecology for understanding the role of each species in the ecosystem and to predict the dynamics of its populations. Carnivores play a central role in ecological communities, regulating populations of prey and of one another through direct and indirect interactions. Thus, information about the trophic niche of carnivores is essential for understanding the functioning of ecosystems. Despite the considerable number of studies on the feeding ecology of carnivores in the Neotropics, the available information is sparse in multiple sources, which hampers access to general patterns, and different studies use different metrics to describe trophic niches. To unravel general patterns in the trophic ecology of Neotropical carnivores, I compiled and synthesized data on the composition of the diet of 37 species of native carnivores (terrestrial and semiaquatic) living in the Neotropical region. In Chapter 1, I present information on the quality of the available data and investigate quantitative patterns of resource use by the predators, examining the consistency of these patterns throughout the distribution of each species. The ability to predict trophic interactions of a species by establishing the relationship between dietary patterns and their determinants, is a crucial step to establish appropriate conservation and management strategies. Predicting trophic interactions of a species is necessary to infer diet in undersampled regions and to anticipate human-wildlife conflicts, and ensuring the prevalence of populations of predators and prey over time. This rationale led to Chapter 2, in which, I developed a predictive model to obtain probabilities of interaction between predator and prey estimated from predator- prey body mass ratios. Therefore, besides contributing to the knowledge about the trophic ecology of Neotropical carnivores and advancing towards the comprehension of the determinants of trophic interactions between terrestrial vertebrates, this dissertation adds up to the set of information and tools needed to establish effective ecosystems conservation planning and practice (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/16025-9 - Resource use by Neotropical terrestrial carnivores: general patterns and spatial variation
• Grantee: Lívia Ribeiro Cruz
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master