Influência da disponibilidade de alimento na área de vida de Bradypus variegatus (Xenarthra: Bradypodidae) em floresta alagada de Igapó

Abstract

Use of space by animals is influenced by both biotic and abiotic factors. For herbivorous mammals seasonality in forage production is considered to be the main driver of movement patterns, home range size and consequently, the use of space. While such effects are well-researched in temperate regions and the Paleotropics, little is known about the bottom up effect of productivity on herbivorous mammals in the neotropics. One of the most abundant herbivores in the Americas is Brown-throated sloth, Bradypus variagatus. The species’ wide distribution includes populations with a great variety of activity patterns and habitat types. In the Amazon basin the species can be found in a strongly seasonal environment, the igapó’’ – a seasonally-flooded riverine forests with strongly-pulsed leaf-production phenology. Using a combination of telemetry and phenological analysis, this study recorded patterns in sloth moviment, and relate these to seasonal and within-forest differences in food availability. Mean home range size was 1.29ha mean daily moviment was 32m, and did not vary seasonally. Diet was entirely of leaves and Hevea spruceana was a important resource and used in all seasons.