Fig 1.
Study area map of short- and long-term survey sites for Neotropical felids across various geographical regions in Belize.
Geographical regions covered include (1) the north (FB, Fireburn/Balam Na Nature Reserve; SNP, Shipstern Nature Reserve), (2) north-central (RBCMA, Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area; BF, Big Falls; MFR, Manatee Forest Reserve; TSB, Tiger Sandy Bay), (3) central (MPR, Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve; CFRNP, Chiquibul Forest Reserve and National Park; BFR, Bull Run Farm; HVPR, Hidden Valley Private Reserve), (4) south-central (CBWS, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary), and (5) south (BNR, Bladen Nature Reserve; BC, Boden Creek Ecological Preserve; GS, Golden Stream Corridor Preserve; MH, Machaca Hills; STNP, Sarstoon-Temash National Park).
Table 1.
Sampling summary.
Table 2.
Summary statistics of genetic diversity for Panthera onca, Puma concolor, and Leopardus pardalis in Belize.
Fig 2.
Discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) of Neotropical felids in Belize.
Analysis was implemented with (a) Panthera onca and (b) Puma concolor genotypes detected across five geographical regions (north, north-central, central, south-central, south) within Belize using adegenet, version 1.4.2 [47] in software R, version 3.1.3 [39]. Scatterplots show the first two principal components. Points represent individual genotypes, and geographical groups of jaguars and pumas are represented through 95% inertia ellipses in different colors. The barplot (bottom-right) graphs eigenvalues of the first four principal components in relative magnitude.
Table 3.
Genetic differentiation of Panthera onca, Puma concolor, and Leopardus pardalis in Belize.
Table 4.
Hierarchical analysis of molecular variation for Panthera onca, Puma concolor, and Leopardus pardalis in Belize.
Fig 3.
Genetic structure of Panthera onca in Belize.
Inference for number of genetic clusters (K) was based on mean log likelihood LnP(D), using the admixture model with correlated allele frequencies without (a) and (b) with prior sampling location information obtained in STRUCTURE, version 2.3.3 [48], and (c) spatially-explicit Bayesian clustering assignment in GENELAND, version 4.0.3. [52]. Within the barplots each bar represents one individual felid and the color of the bar represents the % of membership (Q) the individual belongs to different genetic clusters.
Fig 4.
Genetic structure of Puma concolor in Belize.
Inference for number of genetic clusters (K) was based on mean log likelihood LnP(D), using the admixture model with correlated allele frequencies without (a) and (b) with prior sampling location information obtained in STRUCTURE, version 2.3.3 [48], and (c) spatially-explicit Bayesian clustering assignment in GENELAND, version 4.0.3. [52] Within the barplots each bar represents one individual felid and the color of the bar represents the % of membership (Q) the individual belongs to different genetic clusters.
Fig 5.
Genetic structure of Leopardus pardalis in Belize.
Inference for number of genetic clusters (K) was based on mean log likelihood LnP(D), using the admixture model with correlated allele frequencies without (a) and (b) with prior sampling location information obtained in STRUCTURE, version 2.3.3 [48], and (c) spatially-explicit Bayesian clustering assignment in GENELAND, version 4.0.3. [52]. Within the barplots each bar represents one individual felid and the color of the bar represents the % of membership (Q) the individual belongs to different genetic clusters.
Fig 6.
Isolation by distance for Neotropical felids in Belize.
Isolation by distance patterns in (a) Panthera onca, (b) Puma concolor, and (c) Leopardus pardalis were assessed by plotting pairwise codominant genotypic distance calculated in GenAlEx, version 6.41 [37] versus pairwise geographic distances (km). Statistical significance was assessed using simple Mantel tests in ecodist, version 1.2.9 [56] in R, version 3.1.3 [39]. Each point represents a pairwise comparison among individual felids.
Table 5.
First-generation migrant analysis indicating dispersers for Panthera onca, Puma concolor, and Leopardus pardalis in Belize.
Fig 7.
Contemporary migration rates for Panthera onca and Puma concolor in Belize.
Circular plots of contemporary bidirectional migration rates in (a) Panthera onca and (b) Puma concolor between and within five geographical regions (north, north-central, central, south-central, south) in Belize derived by BayesAss+, version 3.0 [62].
Table 6.
Contemporary migration rates for Panthera onca, Puma concolor, and Leopardus pardalis in Belize.