Dieta de Cerdocyon thous (Mammalia: carnivora) e seu papel como dispersor em áreas de caatinga de Sergipe

• Autor(a) principal: Souza, Flávia Henriques e
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFS
• Texto Completo: http://ri.ufs.br/jspui/handle/riufs/11333
• topic: Ecologia; Cachorro-do-mato; Animais frugívoros; Germinação; Sergipe (SE); Nordeste brasileiro; Canídeo; Comportamento germinativo; Ecologia trófica; Frugivoria; Canid; Frugivore; Germination; Brazilian northeast; Trophic ecology; CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::ECOLOGIA

Cerdocyon thous is a medium-sized canid whose dietary habits indicate a generalist diet consisting of fruits, arthropods and small vertebrates. In the Caatinga, there are few studies that portray the eating habits of this carnivore and there are no data on its role as a seed disperser in the biome. The present study aims to describe the composition of C. thous eating habits and to investigate its role as seed disperser in the Caatinga of Alto Sertão Sergipano. The work was based on the search and analysis of the feces of this canidae in three areas in this region. In laboratory, the material was washed and analyzed in stereomicroscopic loupe. The items were separated and identified and the frequency of occurrence of each item was calculated. For the most frequent items, influence of precipitation throughout the year in its occurrence was evaluated through a Simple Logistic Regression Analysis. In order to evaluate the role of C. thous as a seed disperser, the seeds found in feces had their viability evaluated in germination tests, where the seeds were exposed to natural conditions and the number of germinated seeds was recorded daily. As a control, seeds taken from mature fruits were left to the same environmental conditions. At the end of the experiment germinability, the germination time of 50% of the viable seeds (t50), the emergency speed index and the synchronization index were determined. In relation to the eating habits, this canid was a generalist predator, mainly consuming arthropods, fruits and small vertebrates, with Coleoptera being the most frequent item. The variation of the consumed items (S = 50) showed a high plasticity in the specie diet in the Caatinga. Germination tests were performed for seven species and only Pilosocereus gounellei and Prosopis juliflora presented differences between treatments. In the first, the passage through the digestive tract decreased germinability and the emergence speed, increased t50, but did not interfere in the synchronization, whereas for the mesquite there was a significant difference only in t50. Although it did not favor the reproductive behavior of the species, C. thous seems to be a good seed disperser in the Caatinga biome, since it is able to move the seeds from the parental plant to places that may be suitable for recruitment and growth of most plantlets. Besides, the seeds excreted by this animal were found without apparent damage.