Fig 1.
Target Neotropical cat species and summary hypotheses.
From large to smaller species: A–Jaguar, B–Puma; C–Ocelot, D–Jaguarundi, and E–Margay. Spatial partitioning hypothesis (including jaguar, puma and ocelot): 1) prey availability would be more important in determining felid habitat use than landscape covariates; 2) based on body weight ratios, jaguar exert negative effects on puma and ocelot, and puma exerts negative effects on ocelot. Temporal partitioning hypothesis (including all five species): higher temporal segregation between species pairs experiencing higher chances of competition. Black arrows indicate strong relationship and grey arrows indicate weaker relationship. Photos by: CAX (A, C and E), COU (B) and YAN (D).
Fig 2.
Location of the eight Neotropical study sites and a map of a typical camera trap array at Caxiuanã National Forest (CAX), Brazil.
Each point represents a camera trap location. Camera traps are distributed in two sampling arrays of 30 camera traps each (North and South of Caxiuanã River) See site codes on Table 1.
Table 1.
Location and area of the eight Neotropical forest sites analysed in this paper.
Table 2.
Sampling period analysed, sampling effort, number of detections (Detc), records per 100 CT/days (RAI), and estimated occupancy probability1 (ψ) from single-season models of the Neotropical cats’ species in eight protected forest sites.
Fig 3.
Relative importance of environmental and interaction covariates on the habitat use of three Neotropical forest cats.
Row A–Sum of models weights (AICwt/QAICwt) of occupancy models to assess habitat factors; row B–Sum of models weights (AICwt/QAICwt) of occupancy models to assess both habitat factors and species interactions.
Fig 4.
Covariates effect on habitat use of jaguar, puma and ocelot.
Beta estimates with 95% of confidence interval estimated from single-season species models: row A—Beta estimates from occupancy models to assess habitat factors; row B–Beta estimates from occupancy models to assess both habitat factors and species interactions (The beta estimates has an effect on the dependent variable when confidence interval do not include 0).
Fig 5.
Coefficient of overlap in daily activity patterns between jaguar, puma and ocelot in Neotropical forest sites.
X and Y axis represent time of the day and activity density, respectively. Overlap is represented by blue shaded areas and Δ is the coefficient of overlap (varying from 0 –no overlap to 1 –total overlap). (*) indicates significant differences. Study site is indicated in the top left corner.
Fig 6.
Coefficient of overlap in daily activity patterns between ocelot, jaguarundi and margay in Neotropical forest sites.
X and Y axis represent time of the day and activity density, respectively. Overlap is represented by blue shaded areas and Δ is the coefficient of overlap (varying from 0 –no overlap to 1 –total overlap). (*) indicates significant differences. Study site is indicated in the top left corner.
Fig 7.
Intraspecific variation in daily activity patterns in felid species across eight Neotropical forest sites.
X and Y axis represent time of the day and activity density, respectively.
Fig 8.
Daily activity level of felid species across the eight Neotropical forest sites.
Proportion of active hours per day. Error bars represent the standard error.