title: Implications of climatic seasonality on activity patterns and resource use by sympatric peccaries in northern Pantanal.
abstract: We evaluated the effects of climate seasonality from a thermal and water availability perspective on the activity patterns and resource use of Pecari tajacu and Tayassu pecari during wet and dry seasons in the northeastern Brazilian Pantanal. We used camera traps and temperature sensors to record species activity patterns in relation to temperature, established five habitat categories based on flooding intensity and local vegetation characteristics, assessed the activity patterns of each species in dry and wet periods and in artificial water bodies using circular statistical metrics, and calculated niche amplitude and overlap on three axes (temperature, time, and habitat) in both periods. Peccaries shared a strong resemblance in resource use and in their responses to seasonal variations in the tested gradients. The activity patterns of both species exhibited a significant correlation with air temperature on all the evaluated measures, and both species strongly reduced their activity when the air temperature exceeded 35 °C. High temperatures associated with low water availability were most likely responsible for the changes in species activity patterns, which resulted in an increased temporal overlap in habitat use throughout the dry season. However, the peccaries avoided intensively flooded habitats; therefore, the habitat gradient overlap was greater during the wet period. Our results show that an increase in niche overlap on the environmental gradient as a result of climatic seasonality may be partially compensated by a reduction in other niche dimensions. In this case, temporal partitioning appears to be an important, viable mechanism to reduce competition by potentially competing species.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Caixa Postal 15007, Porto Alegre, RS, CEP: 91501-970, Brazil. hofmann.gabriel@gmail.com.|Centro Universitário La Salle, Mestrado em Avaliação de Impactos Ambientais, Victor Barreto, 2288 Centro, Canoas, RS, 92010-000, Brazil. hofmann.gabriel@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gabriel Selbach
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Caixa Postal 15007, Porto Alegre, RS, CEP: 91501-970, Brazil. djkare@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Igor Pfeifer
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Caixa Postal 15007, Porto Alegre, RS, CEP: 91501-970, Brazil. bastazini.vinicius@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vinicius Augusto Galvão
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Bastazini
authors.affiliation: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz Mata Atlântica, Estrada Rodrigues Caldas 3400, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP: 22713-375, Brazil. zeluiscordeiro@fiocruz.br.
authors.forename: José Luís Passos
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Cordeiro
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Vertebrados, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Quinta da Boa Vista s/n, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP: 20940-040, Brazil. lfbolive@mn.ufrj.br.
authors.forename: Luiz Flamarion Barbosa
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001188:Artiodactyla; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001938:Brazil; D017753:Ecosystem; D008834:Microclimate; D012621:Seasons; D014887:Weather
keywords: Pecari tajacu; Tayassu pecari; Temperature; Thermal niche; Time partitioning; Wetlands