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Description: |
ix, 228 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color), digital, PDF file |
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System Details Note: |
System requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader. |
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Mode of access: World Wide Web. |
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General Note: |
Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 4, 2005). |
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Dissertation Note: |
Ph. D. University of Florida 2000 |
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Summary, Etc. Note: |
Abstract: Jaguar and puma depredation on livestock may be influenced by 1) innate and learned behavior; 2) health and status of individual cats; 3) division of space and resources among jaguar and puma; 4) cattle husbandry practices; 5) abundance and distribution of natural prey. Our study in Los Llanos Altos of Venezuela aimed to establish how all these inter-related elements were related to cattle being lost to cat depredation. Linear foot transects, vehicle transects, point counts, incidental observations, camera trapping, net, hoop trap, funnel trap, haul seine, box trap, and noose captures, and detailed vegetation sampling and mapping were employed to understand the patterns of prey distribution by species and available biomass. Prey distribution was influenced by forest composition, topographical characteristics, and degree of habitat interspersion. Climate, topography, and soils interact to define variation in primary productivity, dictating prey distributions, and large cats use space accordingly. The few preferred prey species were both large and productive. Large reptiles were used less than their high biomass would suggest, presumably a result of access and risk. The biomass of natural prey in the study area was adequate to support the resident large cats without a subsidy of domestic livestock. Selective rather than opportunistic hunting by the cats reinforced that conclusion. However, the distribution of natural prey was far from uniform. Puma were responsible for more attacks on livestock than jaguar, frequently in maternity pastures set in upland areas of relatively low prey availability. The mammalian biomass in the study area rivaled that of the most productive savanna/forest mosaics of the Old World. Up to 97% of that high biomass was represented by grazers introduced from the Old World, the majority being bovid livestock apparently occupying niches left vacant since the megafauna extinctions of the Pleistocene. The closing discussion of management recommendations focuses on Los Llanos Altos of Venezuela, but contains elements applicable to all the savanna/forest mosaics of South America where similar issues may arise. |
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Bibliography Note: |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-227). |
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Elect. Loc./Access: |
http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/ane2744 Connect to this title online |