Padrões de nicho temporal de mamíferos de médio e grande porte na Amazônia Oriental Brasileira

Abstract

The study of the activity pattern of animals is important for understanding the interactions that allow the coexistence of species, especially based on the partitioning of resources through their temporal activity. The present study analyzed the activity pattern of medium and large terrestrial mammals in the Tapirapé Biological Reserve, southeast of Pará, northern Brazil. Using camera trap methodology, we analyzed the daily pattern and variation in the temporal niche between species. Data was collected between March 2016 and July 2019. We estimated activity patterns using kernel density, measured activity overlap using an overlap coefficient (Δ), also called Dhat, and the significance of level comparisons of activity between pairs of species was estimated using the Wald (W) test. The records point out 12.5% of the species with a diurnal activity pattern (D. leporina and N. nasua), a nocturnal activity pattern (18.75%; D. kappleri, D. novemcinctus, L. tigrinus), species with a tendency to diurnal activity (18.75%; Passalites nemorivagus, Dicotyles tajacu, Tayassu pecari), with a tendency to nocturnal activity (18.75%; Cuniculus paca, Panthera onca, Tapirus terrestris), cathemerals species (25%; Leopardus pardalis, Mazama americana, Priodontes maximus, Puma concolor) and one species with twilight activity (6.25%; Dasyprocta prymnolopha). Most intraguild pairs present temporal segregation and little overlap of activities, thus demonstrating less competition for resources, optimizing habitat use. The average overlap index between carnivores was (Δ= 0.55), herbivores (Δ= 0.53) and omnivores (Δ= 0.34) and the highest pairwise overlap indexes were between Puma concolor x Leopardus pardalis (Δ= 0.63), Dicotyles tajacu x Tayassu pecari (Δ= 0.86) and Dasypus kappleri x Dasypus novemcinctus (Δ= 0.62). The results also indicate that preys abundance determines the food preference and foraging behavior of predators and optimizes the coexistence of felids coexistence. This study provides important information about the temporal niche of species and helps to understand the interactions between taxa and between preys and predators that influence the community structure of medium and large terrestrial mammals in the Amazon.