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

Scientific Reports
By: , , , , , , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-36935-2

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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 km2 in 2014 to 3.80 ± 1.08 jaguars per 100 km2 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.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Tourism-supported working lands sustain a growing jaguar population in the Colombian Llanos
Series title Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-023-36935-2
Volume 13
Publication Date June 27, 2023
Year Published 2023
Language English
Publisher Nature
Contributing office(s) Coop Res Unit Seattle
Description 10408, 11 p.
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