부산대학교 도서관

Simple Summary: Humans are impacting the planet like never before. In the face of global species loss, many have concluded that the only way to protect species is for humans to remove themselves or be forcefully removed from landscapes. Our study investigates four species of small wild cats in the Bolivian Amazon to determine if they are negatively impacted by human activity, such that they are less likely to occur near human settlements or tourism centers. Field camera data reveal that at least two of these species do not appear to avoid human activity centers, including tourist lodges and indigenous communities, suggesting that these do not conflict with the wild cats' needs in this landscape. We did not observe negative effects between species that would indicate competition, which suggests high habitat quality or the effective division of roles amongst the cats. Our results illustrate that the combined efforts of government and indigenous peoples in the Greater Madidi Landscape have been successful in protecting these vulnerable species. In the face of global species loss, it is paramount to understand the effects of human activity on vulnerable species, particularly in highly diverse, complex systems. The Greater Madidi Landscape in the Bolivian Amazon includes several biodiverse protected areas that were created with the goal of sustaining healthy and diverse ecosystems while not impeding the livelihoods of local indigenous peoples. In this study, we sought to use camera trap data and single-species occupancy analysis to assess the impacts of different forms of human activity on four species of small felids: ocelots (Leopardus pardalis), margays (Leopardus wiedii), jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi), and oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus). We modeled both human variables (proximity to indigenous communities, roads, and tourist camps) and non-human variables (terrain ruggedness, proximity to rivers, canopy height, prey availability, and large cat abundance). Margay occupancy was unaffected by any of these human variables and ocelots showed only weak evidence of being affected by tourism. Ocelots were particularly pervasive throughout the study area and were consistently estimated to have high occupancy probability. We did not obtain sufficient data on jaguarundi or oncilla to reliably model these effects. Our results indicate that small cats successfully coexist both with each other and with the surrounding human activity in this unique landscape, which serves as a model for global protected area management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]