Ecology of South American coati (Nasua nasua) in urban forest fragments of Brazilian Cerrado

Abstract

Growing urbanization at the global level results in unpredictable changes in land use, which makes it increasingly necessary to understand how wild animal populations that survive in urban areas are affected. Although the adaptability of some wild species to the urban environment and the importance of many of them for the maintenance of forest dynamics is well known, the consequences of living in an urban matrix in relation to the behavior and occupation of the area is still a challenge to be understood. Thus, studies on demographic parameters, sociobiology, activity patterns and use of space provide important information, capable of supporting effective strategies for the management of wild species that inhabit urban environments. In this study, we used the coatis (Nasua nasua) as a model, given their well-known adaptability to areas under anthropogenic influence and their interesting but still poorly understood system of social organization. This thesis is divided into two chapters. In the first, we estimate the demographic parameters using the capture-mark-recapture method. In the second chapter, we explore aspects of social organization, pattern of activity and use of space. To this end, we monitored the coatis by GPS telemetry to estimate and test the effect of gender and body weight variables on the size of home ranges, in addition to evaluating space use and circadian activity. In addition, through social network analyses, we determine the number of social groups and their composition by gender and age group. Overall, we obtained higher densities than those reported for the species in the natural environment, but a low apparent survival that associated with high resource availability possibly kept the population stable. Also, the selection for forested areas in an urban landscape reduced the home range, but did not change the circadian cycle in groups of coatis. Apparently, the urban environment favors a greater cohesion of adult males in the social group, regardless of the reproductive period.