Tourism-supported working lands sustain a growing jaguar population in the Colombian Llanos

Matthew Hyde; Esteban Payan; Jorge Barragan; Diana Stasiukynas; William L. Kendall; Samantha Rincon; Jeronimo Rodriguez; Kevin R. Crooks; Stewart W. Breck; Valeria Boron

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-36935-2

USGS · 70255040

Tourism-supported working lands sustain a growing jaguar population in the Colombian Llanos

Matthew Hyde·Esteban Payan·Jorge Barragan·Diana Stasiukynas·William L. Kendall·Samantha Rincon·Jeronimo Rodriguez·Kevin R. Crooks·Stewart W. Breck·Valeria Boron

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Abstract

Understanding large carnivore demography on human-dominated lands is a priority to inform conservation strategies, yet few studies examine long-term trends. Jaguars ( Panthera onca ) are one such species whose population trends and survival rates remain unknown across working lands. We integrated nine years of camera trap data and tourist photos to estimate jaguar density, survival, abundance, and probability of tourist sightings on a working ranch and tourism destination in Colombia. We found that abundance increased from five individuals in 2014 to 28 in 2022, and density increased from 1.88 ± 0.87 per 100 km 2 in 2014 to 3.80 ± 1.08 jaguars per 100 km 2 in 2022. The probability of a tourist viewing a jaguar increased from 0% in 2014 to 40% in 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic. Our results are the first robust estimates of jaguar survival and abundance on working lands. Our findings highlight the importance of productive lands for jaguar conservation and suggest that a tourism destination and working ranch can host an abundant population of jaguars when accompanied by conservation agreements and conflict interventions. Our analytical model that combines conventional data collection with tourist sightings can be applied to other species that are observed during tourism activities.

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Matthew Hyde, Esteban Payan, Jorge Barragan, Diana Stasiukynas, William L. Kendall, Samantha Rincon, Jeronimo Rodriguez, Kevin R. Crooks, Stewart W. Breck, Valeria Boron. 2023-06-27. Tourism-supported working lands sustain a growing jaguar population in the Colombian Llanos. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-36935-2

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