Prey abundance drives habitat occupancy by jaguars in Amazonian floodplain river islands

Abstract

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is widely distributed across a broad range of habitat types, where its feeding habits and habitat use patterns vary significantly. The jaguar and its main arboreal prey - the brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus) and the red howler monkey (Alouatta juara) - are widespread in the Amazonian floodplain forests of the Mamiraua Reserve. These forest-dwelling species are the most common mammal species both in the continuous forest and the forest patches surrounded by a river matrix - the fluvial islands - of the Solimoes and Japura rivers. We used sign surveys along line-transects to assess the pattern of habitat occupancy by jaguars in Amazonian floodplain forests. Specifically, we (i) tested whether habitat occupancy by jaguars differs between river islands and continuous forest; and (ii) evaluated whether and how the local abundance of sloths and howler monkeys influence the probability of site occupancy by jaguars. We built an occupancy model and used Bayesian inference to reach these goals. The proportion of sites estimated to be used by jaguars was{psi} = 0.75 (HPD95: 0.36-1.00), and it did not differ between islands and continuous forest. The abundance of both prey species had a direct influence on jaguars habitat use, whereas the aquatic matrix seems to have a negligible effect on the use of islands by jaguars. We conclude that the isolation of the river islands within the aquatic matrix does not hamper jaguars to use them. We also conclude that prey search modulates jaguars habitat occupancy patterns with both prey species having a similar effect. This finding is compatible with the previously reported importance of sloths to the diet of jaguars in the study region despite its lower abundance than howlers. Finally, we suggest that sign surveys are an alternative method to assess the pattern of jaguar habitat occupancy in floodplain forests.