LIFE-HISTORY AND DISEASE ECOLOGY OF THE BROWN-NOSED COATI (NASUA NASUA) AND THE CRAB-EATING FOX (CERDOCYON THOUS) IN THE BRAZILIAN PANTANAL ________________________________________________________________________ A Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri ________________________________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy ________________________________________________________________________ by NATALIE OLIFIERS Dr. Matthew E. Gompper, Dissertation Supervisor July 2010 The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, have examined the dissertation entitled LIFE-HISTORY AND DISEASE ECOLOGY OF THE BROWN-NOSED COATI (NASUA NASUA) AND THE CRAB-EATING FOX (CERDOCYON THOUS) IN THE BRAZILIAN PANTANAL presented by Natalie Olifiers a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. Professor Matthew E. Gompper Professor David Galat Professor Brenda Beerntsen Professor Joshua Millspaugh “It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure” A. Einstein In memory of my grandmothers, Sydinea Sulser Hulda Doberstein Olifiers Maria José Oliveira Moura ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I thank my advisor, Dr. Matthew Gompper, for his unconditional support, his friendship, patience and excitement with the project. I am also grateful to Dr. Paulo S. D’Andrea, who advised me in the intricate field of “inter-scientist relationships” and funded a great part of this work. Dr. Gompper and Dr. D’Andrea gave me the freedom and recognition I needed to build my self-confidence as a scientist. Thanks to Rita Bianchi, who helped me in every single step of this journey. I have no words to acknowledge her for sharing so many responsibilities, for her friendship and hard-work in the field. My students, Elisa Pucu, Ana Gomes, Wagner Lopes and Viviane Rodrigues were hard-working and also very patient in teaching me how to be an advisor. Thanks also to Fernada Alves, Nilson Xavier, Juliane Saab and Renata Calixto, for their friendship and all the help in the field and laboratory. These students make every day in the Nhumirim Ranch a day to be remembered. During three months, Laís Grego kindly taught me how to identify the blood cells, which was such an important part of the work. There were also many temporary trainees, friends, visitors and volunteers who helped in the field for short periods and I thank all of them. Vitor Rademaker and Fabiana Rocha helped in the first steps of the project. Fabiana taught me the basics for handling carnivores while Vitor shared responsibilities during the “Earthwatch phase” and, in some way, he was the person who first stimulated me to investigate the field of disease ecology. ii Thanks to every cowboy, driver or cook who fed us, rescued us from unexpected conditions, or spent time with us capturing animals at the Nhumirim Ranch. Thanks to Marcos Tadeu, Armindo, Henrique, Roberto, Ricardo, Batista, Odilza and Antônio, for their patience and flexibility to solve the countless little difficulties my work brought to their daily routine at Embrapa and Nhumirim Ranch. My family gave me the psychological support I needed, even though they are still wondering what exactly I was doing so far from home and for so long. My brother Carlos Henrique funded me in my last semester, while my brother Eric made my life much easier giving me access to his university electronic sources. I also thank to Dr. Guilherme Mourão for his collaboration in the project, the access to his facilities at Embrapa and the material he provided for the fieldwork. At FIOCRUZ, Bernardo Teixeira, Michele Maria and Rosana Gentile helped on many occasions. I am also grateful to Arnaldo Maldonado and Joyce for helping with the helminth identification. I express my gratitude to all students and researchers from the Laboratory of Trypanosomatids, Fiocruz/RJ. Thanks to Daniela Rozas, Andre Roque, Samanta, Kerla, Miguel, Marcos and Carlos for their outstanding technical support. Dr. Ana Jansen provided all the help, expertise and access to the facilities for the health and trypanosomatid analyses. Dr. Heitor Herrera was the first contact with Embrapa/Pantanal and contributed with his expertise during the project. I also thank Paulo Cançado from UFRRJ who helped in the field, identified the tick species and trained/co-advised one of my students. iii I have many friends in the US who helped me in several ways. Karthik Masagounder shared the office with me for a long time and helped me with little things that actually made a lot of difference. Aniruddha Belsare kindly spent a couple of hours with me discussing some of the health data. My committee members, Dr. David Galat, Dr. Joshua Millspaugh and Dr. Brenda Beerntsen were always ready to help me and I am grateful to them too. Carlos Silva, Lori Thweatt and Elina Silva were my US family and provided me with a good environment for writing. My room was always available, no matter how long I was absent. I also thank Matt’s family, who welcomed me in their house for a couple of weeks when I arrived. Finally, I thank my dear boyfriend Alberto Maurer, who stood by me since the very beginning, always helping me to understand others and to find solutions for practical and complex problems. With his expertise in management, in some way he taught me to manage myself a little better. He also probably deserves a prize for being so patient, for having waited for me all this time, and for having spent so much time and money flying to see me and flying me to see him. This project was funded by IOC-FIOCRUZ/RJ, EMPRAPA, FUNDECT, EARTHWATCH INSTITUTE, CNPq and the University of Missouri. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. ii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ viii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... x GENERAL INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1: ESTIMATING AGE OF BROWN-NOSED COATIS AND CRAB-EATING FOXES FROM THE PANTANAL REGION, BRAZIL ......................................................... 4 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 5 MATERIAL AND METHODS .......................................................................................................... 7 Study area................................................................................................................................ 7 Capturing and handling procedures ....................................................................................... 7 Body size measurements and teeth condition index ................................................................ 8 Data analyses ........................................................................................................................ 13 RESULTS .................................................................................................................................... 14 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 19 MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS ................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 2: LIFE-HISTORY OF BROWN-NOSED COATIS AND CRAB-EATING FOXES IN THE PANTANAL OF BRAZIL ......................................................................... 23 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. 23 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 24 MATERIAL AND METHODS ........................................................................................................ 26 Study area.............................................................................................................................. 26 Capturing and handling procedures ..................................................................................... 26 Demographic parameters ...................................................................................................... 28 Growth, morphometrics and survival .................................................................................... 28 v RESULTS .................................................................................................................................... 30 Reproduction and sex ratio ................................................................................................... 32 Growth curves, body size measurements and survival .......................................................... 33 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 38 Reproduction