NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a dataset on carnivore occurrence in the Neotropics

NAGY-REIS, MARIANA B.; OSHIMA, J E DE F; DI BITETTI, M. S.; GALETTI, MAURO; RIBEIRO, M. C.

ECOLOGY

ECOLOGICAL SOC AMER

Año: 2020

0012-9658

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key-group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivoresalso hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora consists of 295 recognized species of 16 families. Currently in the Neotropics, there are 84 species of 8 families of carnivores: Canidae, Felidae, Mephitidae, Mustelidae, Otariidae, Phocidae, Procyonidae, and Ursidae. Here, we compiled published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae, Felidae, Mephitidae, Mustelidae, Procyonidae, and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is the largest dataset on wild carnivores in the Neotropical region and it comprises 99,619 records from 35,520 unique georeferenced coordinates. Occurrence and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2019 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods, including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) were also used on this data paper compilation. Most data comprises of presence-only data (n = 79,356, 79.65% of records), but we also present non-detection information (n = 20,263, 20.34%), and quantitative data on records (i.e., number of records in the same location; n =63,407, 63.64%). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will help to address and explore important biogeographic, ecological and conservation questions in multi-spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans to safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropics ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale datasets, has the potential to help clarify aspects related to trophic cascade effects on ecological processes within the Neotropical region.