Check List 16 (2): 323–335
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16 2 ANNOTATED LIST OF SPECIES Check List 16 (2): 323–335 https://doi.org/10.15560/16.2.323 A camera trapping survey of mammals in the mixed landscape of Bolivia’s Chiquitano region with a special focus on the Jaguar Martin Jansen1, 2, Marc Engler3, Luka Moritz Blumer4, Damián I. Rumiz5, José Luis Aramayo2, 5, 6, Oliver Krone3 1 Senckenberg Research Institute and Nature Museum, Terrestrial Zoology, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 2 Centro de Investigaciones Ecológicas Chiquitos, Hacienda San Sebastián, Concepción, Bolivia. 3 Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Department of Wildlife Diseases, Alfred-Kowalke-Straße 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany. 4 Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Biologicum, Max-von-Laue-Straße 13, 60439, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 5 Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado, Av. Irala 565, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. 6 Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno, Facultad Cs, Farmacéutica y Bioquímicas, Campus Universitario, calle México, Ciudad Universitaria, Av. Busch, Módulo 272-280, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Corresponding author: Martin Jansen, [email protected] Abstract At a site in the Bolivian Chiquitano region composed by a mosaic of pastureland and primary Chiquitano Dry Forest (CDF) we conducted a camera-trapping study to (1) survey the mammals, and (2) compare individual Jaguar numbers with other Chiquitano sites. Therefore, we installed 13 camera stations (450 ha polygon) over a period of six months. On 1,762 camera-days and in 1,654 independent capture events, we recorded 24 mammalian species that represent the native fauna of large and medium-sized mammals including apex-predators (Puma, Jaguar), meso-carnivores (Ocelot, Jaguarundi, Margay), and large herbivores (Tapir, Collared and White lipped Peccary). We identified six adult Jaguars and found indications of successful reproductive activity. Captures of Jaguars were higher in CDF than in altered habi- tats. In summary, we believe that (1) the mammal species richness, (2) the high capture numbers of indicator species, and (3) the high capture numbers of Jaguar indicate that our study area has a good conservation status. Future efforts should be undertaken to keep this, and monitoring programs in this region are necessary to further evaluate the poten- tial importance of the Chiquitano region as a possible key region for mammals, especially Jaguars, in South America. Keywords Camera trapping, Chiquitano Dry Forest, individual identification,Panthera onca, species inventory. Academic editor: Átilla Colombo Ferreguetti | Received 24 September 2019 | Accepted 14 February 2020 | Published 3 April 2020 Citation: Jansen M, Engler M, Blumer LM, Rumiz DI, Aramayo JL, Krone O (2020) A camera trapping survey of mammals in the mixed landscape of Bolivia’s Chiquitano region with a special focus on Jaguar. Check List 16 (2): 323–335. https://doi.org/10.15560/16.2.323 Introduction Barthlott and Winiger 1998; Brooks et al. 2002; Ibisch Bolivia is a country with high geobiodiversity composed and Mérida 2004; Kosydar et al. 2014; Peñaranda and of 12 well-defined ecoregions with several sub-ecore- Simonetti 2015; Romero-Muñoz et al. 2019a). Similar to gions ranging from lowlands near sea level to high alti- the global situation, human population expansion, defor- tudes of the Andes (Barthlott and Winiger 1998; Ibisch estation for agriculture and pastureland, destruction and and Mérida 2004). However, the pressure on Bolivian fragmentation of habitats, and hunting are the major wildlife has increased rapidly during the last decades threats to Bolivia’s rich biodiversity (Ibisch and Mérida and has led to irreversible damage (Anderson 1997; 2004; MMAyA 2009; Romero‐Muñoz et al. 2019a). Copyright Jansen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 324 Check List 16 (2) An example of a rapidly changing landscape is the meso-carnivores and lower trophic levels along several Chiquitano region in eastern Bolivia, where agriculture paths within the food web (Ripple et. al. 2014; Soria-Díaz and cattle ranching are the major forms of land-use and et al. 2018). As a step towards monitoring local mammal have been the major driver of deforestation in Bolivia diversity and assessing the value of remnant forest for during the last decades (Ibisch and Cuéllar 2004; Mül- the conservation of Jaguars, we conducted a survey of ler et al. 2012, 2014a, 2014b). The Chiquitano region, medium-sized to large mammals in a cattle ranch and located on the Precambrian Shield in the eastern part of private reserve which are representative of the Chiqui- the country, is a climatic transition zone between humid tano forest. Thus, our objectives were to (1) survey local and dry forests, and at the same time a forest-savanna mammal fauna in various habitats using camera traps; ecotone between Amazon, Cerrado and Gran Chaco and (2) estimate the number of individual Jaguars in the (Whitmore and Prance 1987; Ibisch and Mérida 2004; study area for the comparison with similarly sampled Killeen et al. 2006; Navarro 2011; Vides-Almonacid and neighbouring Chi quitano sites. Justiniano 2011). The region is rather understudied, but diverse in Methods habitats, fauna and flora alike (e.g. Killeen et al. 2006; Schulze et al. 2009; Jansen et al. 2011; Navarro 2011). Study site. Camera trap data were collected on the San Mammal diversity in Bolivia has increased from 321 Sebastián cattle ranch (16.3622°S, 062.0023°W, 500 m native species included in Anderson’s (1997) seminal a.s.l.), in the Province of Ñuflo de Chávez, Santa Cruz work to 406 in the most recent country-wide review Department, 18 km south of the town of Concepción, (Aguirre et al. 2019). Mammal richness of the Chi- Bolivia. The ranch is at the center of the endemic Chiqui- quitano region was estimated at 72 species based on tano Dry Forest (CDF), the largest expanse of seasonally museum collections (Brooks et al. 2002), but more recent dry tropical forests in South America (Miles et al. 2006; collections and surveys may increase this total to 133, or Power et al. 2016). The CDF varies from a subhumid more, species in the Museo Noel Kempff Mercado data- semideciduous forest developed on deep, well-drained base (CGB 2020) depending on the limits chosen for the soils covering most of the Concepción area, to strips of region and whether borderline species, typical of Ama- more humid hydrophytic and riverine forests along val- zonian, Chaco or Pantanal habitats, are counted. Of the leys and streams (Navarro 2011). On shallow soils, lim- 133 species of the CGB records, some 80 of them (~ 60 ited by a hardpan and scarce nutrients, the tall forest is %) represent bats, small rodents and small marsupials replaced by a lower stature sclerophyllous woodland or which are largely poorly known and need to be captured fire-adapted tree savanna typical of the Cerrado (a more for identification. The rest of the Chiquitano species detailed description of the area is given by Schulze et al. are large and medium-sized mammals that can be sur- 2009). Of the total area of the San Sebastián cattle ranch veyed mostly without captures, and 53 of them have been (3,264.9 ha), half is used for farming (pastureland 787.3 recorded within Chiquitano forest and Cerrado habitats ha, 24.1%; forest occasionally used for browsing cattle (CGB 2020). Using another source (Wallace et al. 2012), 727.2 ha, 22.3%), and the other half is a private reserve this number increases to 65 species by adding the tran- of low-disturbance, primary Chiquitano Dry Forest sition to the Chaco and Pantanal savannas, and to 74 if (1,673.7 ha; 51.3%). During the study period, 480 heads Amazonian species from the flooded riverine forests in of cattle were held in the area. the northern Chiquitano limit are included. The potential Camera trapping. Between March 2017 and Octo- diversity of carnivores in this region is very high, and ber 2017, 26 infrared cameras (Bushnell Trophy Cam- surveys by camera trapping have recorded multiple sym- era Brown Model 119437) were placed across an area of patric felids, rare canids, and several Jaguar (Panthera approximately 450 ha (polygon of cameras). Thirteen onca (Linnaeus, 1758)) individuals in remnant forests camera stations were set, grouped in three areas of dif- reserves and certified forestry areas of the Chiquitano ferent habitat types: (1) secondary forest patch in pas- forest (Arispe et al. 2007b; Polisar et al. 2016). However, tureland: Churrasquera; (2) primary forest: Reserve; large carnivores, and especially Jaguar, listed as Vulner- and (3) border of pastureland to forest: Puerta Princi- able in the national Red List (Aguirre and Tarifa 2009), pal (Table 1). Camera stations were opportunistically set are subject to all above mentioned threats such as hab- along dirt roads, stream beds and game trails to maxi- itat destruction, prey depletion and hunting (Wolf and mize the probability of detecting species. A maximum Ripple 2017; Tucker et al. 2018; Jędrzejewski et al. 2018; spacing of roughly 3 km between camera stations was Romero‐Muñoz et al. 2019b). chosen to ensure that home ranges of Jaguar, the focal Monitoring local mammal populations is important species, could not fit within gaps between stations. The because changes in large carnivore or herbivore pop- minimum distance between two camera stations was ulations can have severe impacts on currently intact about 50 m (Fig. 1). ecosystems. For example, predators play a vital role Camera traps were programmed to record 24 h/d and in structuring and maintaining ecosystems, not only were attached to suitable trees at a height of approxi- through direct impact on prey species, but further via mately 40 cm.