Presença do Puma concolor e sua influência sobre outros felinos no Parque Estadual do Pau Furado

Abstract

Members of the Felidae family share similar morphological and ecological characteristics and, for this reason, may present overlap in temporal activity, habitat use, and consumed prey species, potentially competing with each other. To coexist in the same environment, species must differ in at least one of the three dimensions of the ecological niche. Thus, the objective of the study was to evaluate the influence of the top predator Puma concolor on the activity patterns and spatial distribution of the mesopredators of the felid group found in the Parque Estadual do Pau Furado (PEPF), Herpailurus yagouaroundi and Leopardus pardalis. The study was conducted in the PEPF, located between the municipalities of Uberlândia and Araguari, Minas Gerais. Thirteen camera traps were installed, which operated between May 2024 and June 2025. We used Kernel density curves to determine the activity pattern of each species and measure the overlap between Puma concolor and the smaller felines. The temporal overlap index (∆), which ranges from 0 to 1, was also calculated. To analyze the spatial distribution, the percentage of stations where the puma was recorded in the same location as the other species was evaluated. The results showed that the jaguarundi presented a diurnal activity pattern, while the ocelot was predominantly nocturnal, with peak activity times different from those presented by the puma, which was also predominantly nocturnal, generating a low temporal overlap index for the jaguarundi, ∆ = 0.13, and for the ocelot, ∆ = 0.35. The results showed space sharing in the PEPF, with 50% co-occurrence at the camera installation points between the puma and the mesopredators. This indicates that, in the PEPF, temporal segregation may be one of the strategies to ensure coexistence among the species in the same area.