Volume 79, Issue 6, November 2014, Pages 376–383
Abstract
We studied the daily activity pattern and habitat use of the lowland tapir Tapirus terrestris
and their relationship with environmental and anthropic variables. We
used photographic records of tapirs obtained during five camera-trap
surveys conducted in three areas of the Atlantic Forest of Argentina
that differ in their protection against poaching. The daily activity
pattern was analyzed with circular statistics and linear regression. The
effect of protection against poaching and environmental variables on
habitat use of tapirs was analyzed using occupancy modeling. Tapirs were
nocturnal all year round, with 89% of the records between 1800 h and
0700 h. The proportion of nocturnal records and the recording rate did
not change with mean daily temperature. The daily activity pattern of
tapirs was not affected by the sex of the individuals, the lunar cycle
or the protection level of the area. The probability of detecting tapirs
increased with the distance to the nearest access points for poachers
and decreased with the abundance of bamboo in the understory and
increasing trail width. The probability of use of an area by tapirs
increased with increasing protection against poaching and distance to
the nearest access points for poachers. These results suggest that
poaching is one of the factors with significant effect on habitat use by
tapirs but not on their daily activity patterns.
Keywords
- Tapirus terrestris;
- Camera-traps;
- Occupancy modeling;
- Daily activity;
- Poaching
- Corresponding
author at: Instituto de Biología Subtropical (IBS) – Nodo Iguazú,
Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones
Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Moisés Bertoni 85, 3370 Puerto Iguazú,
Misiones, Argentina. Tel.:
+54 3757 423511.
