Circadian activity patterns and temporal overlap among cracids (Aves: Cracidae) within a vegetation mosaic in the Pantanal of Rio Negro, Brazil

Abstract

Vertebrates, overall, present a daily activity pattern when managing their needs, such as foraging, resting or searching for sexual partners. Most of the available information regarding the circadian rhythm in birds comes from controlled laboratory conditions, and little is known about these patterns in the wild. In this study we used camera traps to describe the daily activity patterns of three cracid species in the Pantanal of Rio Negro, Brazil. We had a sampling effort of 9,617 camera trap-days along 231 days (5,544 hours) from September 2013 to May 2014. This resulted in 4,833 independent records of cracids from a total of 7,713 individuals. Crax fasciolata was the species with the most records (n_rec = 3,792) and individuals (n_ind = 5,781), followed by Ortalis canicollis (n_rec = 934; n_ind = 1,758) and Aburria grayi (n_rec = 107; n_ind = 174). None of the species was uniformly distributed throughout the day, thus evidencing a periodization of their activities. The mean vectors of the activity patterns of C. fasciolata, O. canicollis and A. grayi were, respectively, mμ = 10:36 ± 04:26 (SD), mμ = 11:42 ± 03:57 and mμ = 11:44 ± 03:47. We observed a temporal overlap between A. grayi and O. canicollis, whereas C. fasciolata significantly differed from them. Because of their large home ranges, cracids are important indicators of environmental quality, and, as frugivores, they play key roles in the ecological dynamics of forests. In this sense, and given that cracids are notably more susceptible to extinction, the knowledge on their circadian activity patterns may be useful when establishing effective management and conservation strategies.

Keywords.
Conservation; Cracidae; Crax; Ortalis; Aburria