Nesse mato tem cachorro: sobrepondo o padrão de atividade de mamíferos silvestres com cães domésticos em uma unidade de conservação periurbana da Caatinga

Abstract

Mammals correspond a vulnerable group to anthropogenic disturbance and understand its interactions with exotic species such as the domestic dogs, makes it possible to develop efficient management strategies. In this work, we describe the medium-sized mammals activity pattern and its overlap with the domestic dogs’ activities in a peri-urban conservation unit in the Brazilian dryland. For this, we used camera trap technique. We used circular statistics to characterize the activity pattern of the species together with the activity overlap coefficient (∆) to investigate possible temporal segregation between the wild mammals and domestic dogs. With a sampling effort of 1.190 nights/camera, we got 676 records of medium-sized mammals and large-sized mammals, being nine native and three exotic species. Among the native species are two endangered felines (Leopardus emiliae and Herpailurus yagouaroundi). Among the recorded species one was nocturnal (Didelphis albiventris), two were mainly nocturnal (Cerdocyon thous and Procyon cancrivorus), four were catemerals (Mazama gouazoubira, Euphractus sexcinctus, Leopardus emiliae and Felis catus) and one was crepuscular (Canis familiaris). We did not found a high overlap between wild mammals and C. familiaris, suggesting a variable level of temporal segregation. However, species like E. sexcinctus (∆1 =0,57), C. thous (∆1 =0,53), L. emiliae (∆1 =0,50) and M. gouazoubira (∆1 =0,49) can be vulnerable to potential domestic dogs’ attacks, once they show a moderate overlap with them. These results provide important information on the ecology and vulnerability of mammals to anthropogenic threats in Caatinga, in addition to providing relevant information to the management and conservation strategies development in peri-urban natural areas in the Caatinga dryland.