title: Space Use and Movement of a Neotropical Top Predator: The Endangered Jaguar.
abstract: Accurately estimating home range and understanding movement behavior can provide important information on ecological processes. Advances in data collection and analysis have improved our ability to estimate home range and movement parameters, both of which have the potential to impact species conservation. Fitting continuous-time movement model to data and incorporating the autocorrelated kernel density estimator (AKDE), we investigated range residency of forty-four jaguars fit with GPS collars across five biomes in Brazil and Argentina. We assessed home range and movement parameters of range resident animals and compared AKDE estimates with kernel density estimates (KDE). We accounted for differential space use and movement among individuals, sex, region, and habitat quality. Thirty-three (80%) of collared jaguars were range resident. Home range estimates using AKDE were 1.02 to 4.80 times larger than KDE estimates that did not consider autocorrelation. Males exhibited larger home ranges, more directional movement paths, and a trend towards larger distances traveled per day. Jaguars with the largest home ranges occupied the Atlantic Forest, a biome with high levels of deforestation and high human population density. Our results fill a gap in the knowledge of the species' ecology with an aim towards better conservation of this endangered/critically endangered carnivore-the top predator in the Neotropics.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Mamíferos Carnívoros, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil.|Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, Virginia, United States of America.|Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ronaldo G
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8304-9779
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Morato
authors.affiliation: Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, Virginia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jared A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Stabach
authors.affiliation: Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, Virginia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Chris H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.affiliation: Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, Virginia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Justin M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Calabrese
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Mamíferos Carnívoros, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil.|Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rogério C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: De Paula
authors.affiliation: Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil.|Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz", Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, Brazil.
authors.forename: Kátia M P M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ferraz
authors.affiliation: Estação Ecológica Taiamã, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Cáceres, Mato Grosso, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel L Z
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Kantek
authors.affiliation: Estação Ecológica Taiamã, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Cáceres, Mato Grosso, Brazil.
authors.forename: Selma S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.affiliation: Estação Ecológica Taiamã, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Cáceres, Mato Grosso, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thadeu D C
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gediendson R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Araujo
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Subtropical, Universidad Nacional de Misiones and CONICET, Puerto Iguazú, Argentina.
authors.forename: Agustin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paviolo
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Subtropical, Universidad Nacional de Misiones and CONICET, Puerto Iguazú, Argentina.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Angelo
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Subtropical, Universidad Nacional de Misiones and CONICET, Puerto Iguazú, Argentina.
authors.forename: Mario S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Di Bitetti
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Subtropical, Universidad Nacional de Misiones and CONICET, Puerto Iguazú, Argentina.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.affiliation: IPÊ - Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas, Nazaré Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil.|Laboratório de Ecologia Espacial e Conservação, Instituto de Biociências, Univesidade Estadual de São Paulo, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: IPÊ - Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas, Nazaré Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Laury
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cullen
authors.affiliation: Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil.|Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Denis A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Sana
authors.affiliation: Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil.|Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá, Tefé, Amazonas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Emiliano E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Ramalho
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Defesa e Preservação dos Felídeos Brasileiros, Corumbá de Goiás, Goiás, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marina M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Defesa e Preservação dos Felídeos Brasileiros, Corumbá de Goiás, Goiás, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fábio H S
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós Graduação em Zoologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Federal District, Brazil.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zimbres
authors.affiliation: Projeto Carnívoros do Iguaçu, Parque Nacional do Iguaçu, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marina X
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Projeto Carnívoros do Iguaçu, Parque Nacional do Iguaçu, Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcela D F
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Moraes
authors.affiliation: Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil.|Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vogliotti
authors.affiliation: Projeto Onçafari Miranda, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Joares A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: May
authors.affiliation: Projeto Onçafari Miranda, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haberfeld
authors.affiliation: Projeto Onçafari Miranda, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lilian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rampim
authors.affiliation: Projeto Onçafari Miranda, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sartorello
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Ecologia Espacial e Conservação, Instituto de Biociências, Univesidade Estadual de São Paulo, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Milton C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: Conservation Ecology Center, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, National Zoological Park, Front Royal, Virginia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leimgruber
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D056727:Endangered Species; D006702:Homing Behavior; D009068:Movement; D046009:Panthera / Q000502:physiology*; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D014329:Tropical Climate