Abstract Habitat loss and fragmentation represent major threats for the conservation of apex predators, such as the jaguar (Panthera onca). Investigating species' resource selection behavior in response to landscape alteration is critical for developing relevant conservation management plans. The jaguar is found across a variety of habitats with different gradients of human disturbance, making them a good candidate to study how apex predators respond to increasing intensity of human land use. We developed resource selection models to characterize patterns of jaguar resource selection at two different spatial scales, home range (coarse) and foraging scale (fine). This analysis was based on the largest existing GPS-location dataset for jaguars (n = 40 individuals, n = 87,376 locations), spanning the species' geographic range in Brazil and Argentina. We found that both males and females jaguars exhibited an overall preference for forests and areas close to watercourses at both the home range and foraging scale. At the foraging scale, areas of high livestock density “attracted” male jaguars. We also performed a follow-up analysis to test for context-dependent resource selection (i.e., functional responses) by relating individual behavior to local habitat characteristics. We found that jaguars in heavily-forested landscapes showed strong avoidance of non-forest. Furthermore, we found that only the individuals in closest proximity to watercourses showed positive selection for water. Our results highlight that jaguars display different patterns of resource selection in different areas, demonstrating a considerable ability to use or tolerate a wide variety of different conditions across the species geographic range. This plasticity may allow jaguars to adjust their behavior according to land use changes but also increases human-jaguar conflict and jaguar mortality, especially in areas with high livestock density.

中文翻译：

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顶级捕食者的资源选择和当地景观特征的变化

摘要 栖息地丧失和破碎是保护顶级捕食者的主要威胁，如美洲虎 (Panthera onca)。调查物种响应景观变化的资源选择行为对于制定相关保护管理计划至关重要。在人类干扰程度不同的各种栖息地中发现了美洲虎，这使它们成为研究顶级掠食者如何应对人类土地使用强度不断增加的良好候选者。我们开发了资源选择模型来表征美洲豹资源选择模式在两个不同的空间尺度，家园范围（粗略）和觅食尺度（精细）。该分析基于最大的现有美洲虎 GPS 定位数据集（n = 40 个体，n = 87,376 个位置），跨越物种的 地理范围在巴西和阿根廷。我们发现，雄性和雌性美洲虎在栖息地和觅食范围内都表现出对森林和靠近水道的地区的总体偏好。在觅食规模上，牲畜密度高的地区“吸引”了雄性美洲豹。我们还进行了后续分析，通过将个人行为与当地栖息地特征相关联来测试依赖于环境的资源选择（即功能响应）。我们发现在森林茂密的景观中美洲虎表现出对非森林的强烈回避。此外，我们发现只有最靠近水道的个体才表现出对水的积极选择。我们的结果强调美洲虎在不同地区表现出不同的资源选择模式，展示了在物种地理范围内使用或容忍各种不同条件的相当大的能力。这种可塑性可能使美洲豹能够根据土地利用的变化调整其行为，但也会增加人与美洲豹的冲突和美洲豹的死亡率，尤其是在牲畜密度高的地区。