Variation in diet of hatchlings, juveniles and sub-adults of Caiman crocodilus chiapasius in La Encrucijada, Chiapas, Mexico

Autores/as

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2020.91.2852

Palabras clave:

Caiman, Diet, Development, Food niche

Resumen

 Little is known about the diet of the Chiapas spectacled caiman, Caiman crocodilus chiapasius (Bocourt, 1876), in the southern coast of Mexico. Herein, we analyzed the stomach content of 44 caimans divided into 3 size classes in La Encrucijada, Chiapas, Mexico. Within the contents we identified insects, crustaceans, arachnids, fishes, and birds. Hatchlings fed mainly on insects and arachnids, juveniles on crustaceans and insects and sub-adults on crustaceans and fish. Our data show that while the invertebrate intake decreased along different size classes, vertebrates intake increased, and that diet overlapped greater in adjacent size classes. No differences were found in niche breadth (p > 0.05), diet composition (Q = 2.0, p = 0.3678) and prey abundance (X2 = 1.9756, p = 0.3759) among size classes. Caiman crocodilus chiapasius is protected by the Mexican law in the category of "special protection".

 

Citas

Allsteadt, J. and Vaughan, C. (1994). Food habits of Caiman crocodilus in Caño Negro, Costa Rica. Vida Silvestre Neotropical, 3, 24-29.

Álvarez del Toro. (1974). Los Crocodylia de México. Instituto Mexicano de Recursos Naturales A. C., México D. F., 70 pp.

Borteiro, C., Gutierrez, F., Tedros, M. and Kolenc F. (2009). Food habits of the Broad-snouted Caiman (Caiman latirostris: Crocodylia, Alligatoridae) in northwestern Uruguay. Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment, 44, 31-36.

Carabias, L., Provencio, E., De la Maza, E. J. and Jimenés F. J. (1999). Programa de Manejo de la Reserva de la Biósfera La Encricijada. Editorial Instituto Nacional de Ecología, México D.F. 184 pp.

Casas-Andreu, G. and Barrios-Quiroz, G (2003). Hábitos alimenticios de Crocodylus acutus (Reptilia: Crocodylidae) determinados por el análisis de sus excretas en la costa de Jalisco, México. Anales del Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Serie Zoología, 74, 35-42.

Chao, A. and Shen, T. J. 2003. User’s Guide for Program SPADE (Species Prediction and Diversity Estimation). Available in: http://chao.stat.nthu.edu.tw

Da Silveira, R. and Magnusson, W. E. (1999). Diets of spectacled and black caiman in the Anavilhanas Archipelago, Central Amazonia, Brazil. Journal of Herpetelogy, 33, 181-192.

Escobedo-Galván, A. H., Dueñas, C. and Martínez, C. (2004). Notes on crocodiles in El Salvador. Crocodile Specialist Group Newsletter, 23: 14.

Escobedo-Galván, A. H., Cupul-Magaña. F. G. and Velasco J. A. (2011a). Misconceptions about the taxonomy and distribution of Caiman crocodilus chiapasius and C. crocodilus fuscuc (Reptila: Crocodylia: Alligatoridae).

Zootaxa, 3015, 66-68.

Escobedo-Galván, A. H., Casas-Andreu, G. and Barrios-Quiroz G. (2015b). On the occurrence of Caiman crocodilus in Oaxaca, Mexico: a misunderstanding for over 140 years. Mesoamerican Herpetology, 2, 220-223

Garnett, S. T. (1985). The consequences of slow chitin digestion on crocodilian diet analyses. Journal of Herpetology, 19, 303–304.

García-Grajales, J. and López-Luna, M. A. (2010). Análisis bibliográfico del conocimiento de los crocodilianos en México. Revista Latinoamericana de Conservación, 1, 25-31.

González-Solórzano, M., Rosenblatt, A. E., Cupul-Magaña, F. G., Hernández-Hurtado, P. S., Vega-Villasante, F., Hernández-Hurtado, H., and Escobedo-Galván, A. H. (2016). Saurochory in the American crocodile. Are American crocodiles capable of dispersing viable seeds? The Herpetological Bulletin, 138, 10-12.

Gorzula, S. J. (1978). An ecological study of Caiman crocodilus crocodilus inhabiting Savanna Lagoons in the Venezuelan Guayana. Oecologia, 35, 21-34.

Harvé, M. 2018. RVAideMemoire: Testing and Plotting Procedures for Biostatistics.

Horna, V., Zimmermann, R., Cintra, R., Vásquez, P. and Horna, J. (2003). Feeding ecology of the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger) in Manu National Park, Peru. Lyonia, 4, 65-72.

Jackson, J. F., Campbell, H. W. and Campbell Jr, K. E. (1974). The feeding habits of Crocodilians: validity of the evidence from stomach contents. Journal of Herpetology, 8, 378-381.

Krebs, C. (1989). Ecological Methodology. Harper Collins, New York. 654 pp.

Laverty, T. M. and Dobson, A. P. (2013). Dietary overlap between Black caimans and Spectacled caimans in the Peruvian Amazon. Herpetologica, 69, 91-101.

Magnusson, W. E., Da Silva, E. V. and Lima, A. P. (1987). Diets of amazonian crocodilians. Journal of Herpetology, 21, 85–95.

Marioni, B., Da Silveria, R., Magnusson, W. E. and Thorbjarnarson J. B. (2008). Feeding behavior of two sympatric caiman species, Melanosuchus niger and Caiman crocodilus, in the Brazilian Amazon. Journal of Herpetology, 42, 768-772.

Martínez, C. and Dueñas, C. (2007). Observaciones preliminares de Caiman crocodilus en el Área Natural Protegida Santa Rita y El Zanjón El

Chino, El Salvador. Mesoamericana, 10: 38-41.

Platt, S. G. and Thorbjarnarson, J. B. (1997) Status and life history of the American crocodile in Belize. Unpubl. Report to United Nations Development Programme, Global Environmental Facility, Belize City. BZE/92/G31. (Copy archived in files of Campbell Museum, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, USA).

Platt, S. G., Rainwater, T. R., Finger, A. G., Thorbjarnarson, J. B., Anderson T. A. and Mcmurry S. T. (2006). Food habits, ontogenetic dietary partitioning and observations of foraging behavior of morelet´s Crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) in northern Belize. Herpetological Journal, 16, 281-290.

Platt, S. G., Thorbjarnarson, J. B., Rainwater, T. R. and Martin D. R. (2013a). Diet of the American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) in marine environments of coastal Belize. Journal of Herpetology, 47, 1-10.

Platt, S. G., Elsey, R. M., Liu, H., Rainwater, T. R., Nifong, J. C., Rosenblatt, A. E., Heithaus, M. R. and Mazzotti, F. J. (2013b). Frugivory and seed dispersal by crocodilians: an overlooked form of saurochory? Journal of Zoology, 291, 87-99.

Rosenblatt, A. E., Zona, S., Heithaus, M. R. and Mazzotti, F. J. (2014). Are seeds consumed by crocodilians viable? A test of the crocodilian saurochory hypothesis. Southeastern Naturalist, 13, 26-29.

Saalfeld, D. T., Conway, W. C. and Calkins, G. E. (2011). Food habits of American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in east Texas. Southeastern Naturalist, 10, 659-672.

Schoener, T. W. (1968). The anolis lizards of Bimini: resource partitioning in a complex Fauna. Ecology, 49, 704-726.

Seijas, A. E. and Ramos, S. (1980). Caracteristicas de la dieta de la baba (Caiman crocodilus) durante la estación seca en las sabanas moduladas del estado Apure, Venezuela. Acta Biologica Venezuelica, 10, 373-389.

Seijas, A. E. (1983). Estimaciones poblacionales de babas (Caiman crocodilus) en los llanos occidentales de Venezuela. Vida Silvestre Neotropical, 1, 24-30.

SEMARNAT. 2010. Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM-059-ECOL-2010, Protección ambiental–especies de flora y fauna silvestres–categorías de riesgo y especificaciones para su inclusión, exclusión o cambio-lista de especies en riesgo. Diario Oficial de la Federación 30 de diciembre de 2010.

Taylor, j. A., Webb, G. J. W. and Magnusson, W. E. (1978). Methods of obtaining stomach contents from live crocodilians (Reptilia, Crocodilidae). Journal of Herpetology, 12, 415-417.

Thorbjarnarson, J. B. (1993). Diet of the spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) in the Venezuelan Llanos. Herpetologica, 49, 108–117.

Tucker, A. D., Limpus, C. J., McCallum, H. I. and McDonald, K. R. (1996). Ontogenetic dietary partitioning by Crocodylus johnstoni during the dry season. Copeia, 1996, 978–988.

Venegas-Anaya, M., Crawford, A. J., Escobedo-Galván, A. H., Sanjur, O. I., Densmore, L. D. and Bermingham, E. (2008). Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of Caiman crocodilus in Mesoamerica and South America. Journal of experimental zoology, 309, 614–627.

Villegas, A. and Schmitter-Soto, J. J. (2008). Feeding habits of the American crocodile, Crocodylus acutus (Cuvier, 1807) (Reptilia: Crocodylidae) in the Southern coast of Quintana Roo, México. Acta Zoológica Mexicana, 3, 117-124.

Wallace, K. M. and Leslie, A. L. (2008). Diet of the nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Journal of Herpetology, 42, 361-368.

Webb, G. J. W. , Hollis, G. J. and Manolis, S. C. (1991). Feeding, growth, and food conversion rates of wild juvenile saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus). Journal of Herpetology, 25, 462–473.

Zar, J. (1984). Biostatistical analysis. Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 718 pp.

Descargas

Publicado

2020-02-11

Número

Sección

ECOLOGÍA