Does cattle ranching drive activity patterns of jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) in the Brazilian Pantanal?

Abstract

We conducted a comparative study of jaguar and puma activity patterns within a mosaic of protected areas (AMR) and on a cattle ranch (CR) in Pantanal, Brazil, to better understand their activity patterns in these landscapes. We hypothesized that the activity patterns of the jaguar and puma would be biased to the nocturnal period within the cattle ranch but not in the protected areas. We used data from camera traps analyzed through a non-parametric kernel density approach to explore interspecific and intraspecific temporal relationships between these species at both sites. We obtained 71 jaguar and 29 puma independent records at AMR, and 85 jaguar and 26 puma independent records at CR. Activity patterns of jaguars and pumas differed between sites, both being cathemeral in AMR, but nocturnal at CR with moderate to high overlaps, concordant with our hypothesis. Overall, our data suggest that the cattle ranching is not incompatible with the existence of jaguars and pumas but does shape their pattern of activities.