Dissertations & Theses - Gradworks

Abstract:

Guatemala represents a constriction point in connectivity for jaguar populations in Mesoamerica. A thin and potentially threatened movement corridor for jaguar in eastern Guatemala has been projected based on least cost modeling, yet little is known about either the status of jaguar populations in eastern Guatemala or their likely use of the delineated corridor. Using a focal interview approach, I assessed occurrence of both jaguar and their prey within 6x6 km ² cells in a 5,580 km² region of eastern Guatemala. Probability of detection of jaguar was estimated to be constant ( pˆ= 0.45, SE= 0.03) throughout the study region. Site occupancy of jaguar was related to the amount of mature forest and wetland and prey diversity, while proximity to protected areas was a major predictor of prey occurrence. The analysis delimited a semi-continuous corridor for jaguar that connected with the termini of validated jaguar corridors in southern Belize and western Honduras, but that had little overlap with a previously hypothesized corridor in the region. Only one third of the potential Guatemala-Honduras connection remains functional for jaguar movement, and there are several current and impending threats to continued corridor viability for jaguars in eastern Guatemala.