JAGUAR POPULATIONS ECOLOGY IN A SEASONALLY
                                                           FLOODED ENVIROMENT


                   Principal Investigator:                Leandro Silveira, Ph. D.

                                    Position/Title:                President

                                          Affiliation:                Jaguar Conservation Fund
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ABSTRACT OF PROPOSAL

The jaguar is Brazil`s largest predator and its distribution and persistence is strictly dependent
upon healthy habitat and an abundant prey-base, consisting mainly of peccaries, capybaras,
tapirs, and other medium-sized mammals. It is intuitive to think that the pantanal`s jaguar
population serves as a reservoir for surrounding ecosystems, especially the Cerrado (the savanna
forest of the Brazilian plateau). A recent jaguar study in the Cerrado of Emas National Park has
detected ast least one potential dispersion corridor between Emas Park and the Pantanal. Such
corridors have been assumed to be essential for maintaining the genetic diversity of small
populations such as that at Emas. Hence, the Pantanal`s jaguar population likely plays a unique
ecological role in maintaining small populations south of the Amazon. Recent rumors stating that
jaguar numbers are increasing in the Pantanal cannot be evaluated because of the lack of baseline
data on population numbers.

Our research is designed to estimate densities and establish long-term monitoring of the jaguar
population in the Pantanal of Rio Negro. More specifically, the local jaguar population will be
investigated through a combination of methods (radio-telemetry, camera-traps, track-surveys
and faecal DNA analysis). Data accumulated through these methods will also allow an
evaluation of activity patterns, habitat use, and seasonl home range. jaguar diet will be studied
through analysis of kills and scats. Prey abundance will be evaluated with line-transect censuses.
The impact of jaguar predation upon domestic livestock will be investigated through analysis of
cattle carcasses and related to herd size and local productivity.

The results of this study will contribute to knowledge about jaguar ecology and will provide a
more accurate evaluation of the population trends and conservation status of jaguars in the
Pantanal. It will also provide valuable information for developing management strategiest that
protect the species and its habitats. Volunteers participating on the project will be able to
contribute through several field activities, such as radio-tracking, mammal censuses, scat
collection and analyses, and checking of camera-traps. Preliminary analyses of the results will
also be conducted during volunteer expeditions.


THE PROJECT

The need for large tracts of good quality habitat and a stable prey community makes the presence
of top predators synonymus with "healthy environments" wherever they occur through out the
world. The jaguar, the largest terrestrial predator in South America, like many other species,
depends on these physical and biological features in order to maintain stable reproductive
populations. Thus, they have been classified as an umbrella species.