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Jaguars and pumas are top-predator species in the Neotropics that are threatened by habitat destruction, illegal poaching of their body parts and their favored prey, and by the human–wildlife conflicts that arise when predators attack livestock. Much of the remaining felid habitat in the Americas is in protected nature reserves that are too small and isolated to support local populations. Surrounding forests therefore play a vital role in felid conservation. Successful long-term conservation of these two felids requires evidence-based knowledge of their biological and ecological requirements. We studied population distributions of jaguars and pumas and their prey in and between two small, private reserves of the Northern Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, with areas of 25 and 43 km2. During 2 years of camera trapping (2015 and 2016), we detected 21 jaguars, from which we estimated an average space requirement of 28–45 km2/individual. Dietary niche overlap exceeded random expectation. The most frequently occurring prey items in jaguar and puma diets were collared peccary and deer. Jaguar also favored nine-banded armadillos and white-nosed coati, while puma favored canids. Both felids avoided ocellated turkey. Overall, diet of jaguars was less species-rich, but similar in niche breadth, to that of pumas. A fluid use of space by both species, in 2015 tending toward mutual attraction and in 2016 toward partial exclusion of pumas by jaguars, combined with the high dietary overlap, is consistent with a dominance hierarchy facilitating coexistence. Jaguars and pumas favor the same prey as the people in local communities who hunt, which likely will intensify human–wildlife impacts when prey become scarce. We conclude that even small reserves play an important role in increasing the continuity of habitat for prey and large felids, whose generalist habits suppress interspecific competition for increasingly limiting prey that are largely shared between them and humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A scoping review was conducted to map, summarize, and understand the extent of evidence on jaguar (Panthera onca) food resource use and its interaction with humans. A total of 105 studies were identified in electronic databases: 57 analyzed jaguar food resource use, and 48 described jaguar interactions with humans. The studies were published in 51 journals, mainly in English, from 1993–2021 in 14/19 countries where jaguars live. The evidence demonstrated the variability and prey consumption of the jaguar; there are contrasting results regarding the diversity of prey consumed. The frequency of livestock predation was found to be related to the abundance and availability of natural prey and the distance of ranches from the jaguar habitat. The interaction of the jaguar with humans presented an interesting and contrasting picture, since the perception of the jaguar varied depending on the sociocultural context and the study site. The results showed a negative effect of human activities on the distribution and density of the feline, and there was evidence of poaching and attacks on humans, although the information was insufficient to determine the causes in depth. More research and dissemination are needed on these issues at the local level in the regions where the jaguar lives, as these are the areas where decisions and actions are needed to conserve the jaguar in coexistence with communities and livestock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Beyond words: From jaguar population trends to conservation and public policy in Mexico" published in the journal PLoS ONE. The correction states that the 13th author's name was spelled incorrectly in the original article. The correct name is Marco Antonio Huerta-García. The correction is reported by the authors themselves and provides the accurate spelling of the author's name. [Extracted from the article]

Context: Land use change, habitat loss and fragmentation are the major threats to jaguar conservation in Latin America. Here, we integrate the information of jaguar's distribution to identify priority areas for its conservation. Objective: We evaluated the effect of topographic, anthropogenic and landscape variables on habitat suitability to evaluate potential core areas and biological corridors for jaguar conservation across Mexico. Methods: We compiled a database of jaguar occurrence records, geospatial data-set of all Natural Protected Areas and using the expert criterion of the Mexican jaguar specialists to define Jaguar Geographic Regions; i.e. well-defined large units with similar ecological characteristics across the geographic range of jaguars in Mexico. We then conducted analyses of ecological niche models to identify Jaguar Conservation Units; i.e. core units with jaguar populations of 15 or more individuals. We used Least Cost Path and Circuit Theory analyses to define the Biological Corridors; i.e. regions with enough habitat to allow for jaguar dispersal along their geographic range, but putting emphasis in connecting Jaguar Conservation Units. Results: We identified 5 Jaguar Geographic Regions (JGRs), 10 Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs), and 13 Biological Corridors to maintain the connectivity of jaguar's populations across their whole geographic range in Mexico. Our results showed that JGRs cover 25% of the country but only 21% of those regions are currently protected in nature reserves. So, our study illustrates the importance of the creation of new protected areas or the implementation of other schemes of conservation to protect larger extensions of the jaguars' habitat in Mexico. It also indicates that despite the reduction of jaguar range in Mexico, there are still relatively large and well conserved areas capable of maintaining jaguar populations. Conclusions: Our results are a fundamental tool to guide the conservation and management of jaguars in Mexico. Our findings indicate that public jaguar conservation policy to protect the remaining jaguar habitat in Mexico should include the following actions: i) Strengthen established protected areas, ii) Create new protected areas, iii) Implement sustainable development programs to stimulate land owners to protect their lands, and iv) Develop mitigation measures for infrastructure. Although the window of opportunity is closing, our results indicate that there is still time to save jaguars and the plethora of species that share their habitat in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is one of the most threatened carnivores in the Americas. Despite a long history of research on this charismatic species, to date there have been few systematic efforts to assess its population size and status in most countries across its distribution range. We present here the results of the two National Jaguar Surveys for Mexico, the first national censuses in any country within the species distribution. We estimated jaguar densities from field data collected at 13 localities in 2008–2010 (2010 hereafter) and 11 localities in 2016–2018 (2018 hereafter). We used the 2010 census results as the basis to develop a National Jaguar Conservation Strategy that identified critical issues for jaguar conservation in Mexico. We worked with the Mexican government to implement the conservation strategy and then evaluated its effectivity. To compare the 2010 and 2018 results, we estimated the amount of jaguar-suitable habitat in the entire country based on an ecological niche model for both periods. Suitable jaguar habitat covered ~267,063 km2 (13.9% of the country's territory) in 2010 and ~ 288,890 km2 (~14.8% of the country's territory) in 2018. Using the most conservative density values for each priority region, we estimated jaguar densities for both the high and low suitable habitats. The total jaguar population was estimated in ~4,000 individuals for 2010 census and ~4,800 for the 2018 census. The Yucatan Peninsula was the region with the largest population, around 2000 jaguars, in both censuses. Our promising results indicate that the actions we proposed in the National Jaguar Conservation Strategy, some of which have been implemented working together with the Federal Government, other NGO's, and land owners, are improving jaguar conservation in Mexico. The continuation of surveys and monitoring programs of the jaguar populations in Mexico will provide accurate information to design and implement effective, science-based conservation measures to try to ensure that robust jaguar populations remain a permanent fixture of Mexico's natural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern and paleoclimate changes may have altered species dynamics by shifting species' niche suitability over space and time. We analyze whether the current genetic structure and isolation of the two large American felids, jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor), are mediated by changes in climatic suitability and connection routes over modern and paleoclimatic landscapes. We estimate species distribution under 5 climatic landscapes (modern, Holocene, last maximum glaciations [LMG], average suitability, and climatic instability) and correlate them with individuals' genetic isolation through causal modeling on a resemblance matrix. Both species exhibit genetic isolation patterns correlated with LMG climatic suitability, suggesting that these areas may have worked as "allele refuges." However, the jaguar showed higher vulnerability to climate changes, responding to modern climatic suitability and connection routes, whereas the puma showed a continuous and gradual transition of genetic variation. Despite differential responsiveness to climate change, both species are subjected to the climatic effects on genetic configuration, which may make them susceptible to future climatic changes, since these are progressing faster and with higher intensity than changes in the paleoclimate. Thus, the effects of climatic changes should be considered in the design of conservation strategies to ensure evolutionary and demographic processes mediated by gene flow for both species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background. Details of how, why and in what conditions large felids make scrapes is unknown. Here, we examined the general hypothesis about the use of scrapes for marking proposals, as well as to communicate with other individuals to signalize particular points or areas of interest, by studying scrape-marking behaviour of jaguars and pumas. Methods. We surveyed by scrapes between five days and two months mainly during dry season in five study areas from Mexico (El Edén and San Ignacio), Belize (Cockscomb) and Brazil (Angatuba and Serra das Almas), which differed in presence and/or abundance of jaguars and pumas. Paths were slowly walked while searching for scrapes by teams normally composed of two people and tracks were stored in GPS, distinguishing the type of path surveyed (unpaved track roads, trails and cross-country). Results. We found a total of 269 felid scrapes along 467 km of paths surveyed, obtaining a finding rate of 0.576 scrapes per km. Most scrapes were found in car tracks (0.629 scrapes per km), followed by trails (0.581 scrapes per km), and rarely did we find scrapes in cross country (0.094 scrapes per km). In trails, scrapes were found in a similar frequency in the centre and edge, whereas in car tracks they were mainly found in the edge. There were also clear differences in the position of the scrapes between study areas that differed in presence and/or abundance of pumas and jaguars, with scrapes located mainly in the centre in areas only with pumas, in the centre and in the edge in areas with a similar number of jaguars and pumas, and in the edge in area mainly dominated by jaguars. The remarking rate tended to be higher in one of the areas with only pumas where natural vegetation was scarcer. Felids chose sites mainly covered by leaves and located in paths less wide, clean and rarely used. Discussion. Scraping was a frequent behaviour in the largest felids of America, although in some areas, scraping behaviour was rare. Scrapes seem to be signalizing some specific areas within territories and data suggest that they are made with the proposal of communication between individuals. It seems that a high scraping behaviour in pumas is not related to the presence of jaguars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]