Influence of sea turtle nesting on hunting behavior and movements of jaguars in the dry forest of northwest Costa Rica

Jaguars (Panthera onca) are opportunistic predators that prey on
large profitable prey items, such sea turtles at nesting beaches. Here we
use jaguar and sea turtle track count surveys, combined with satellite
telemetry of one jaguar, to evaluate whether jaguar hunting behavior and
movements are influenced by seasonal sea turtle nesting in the Sector Santa
Rosa of Área de Conservación Guanacaste in northwest Costa Rica. We used
Generalized Linear Models to evaluate the effect of moon phase and sea
surface temperature on olive ridley (Lepidochelis olivacea) and green
turtle (Chelonia mydas) nesting abundance, as well as the combination of
these predictors on the frequency of jaguar predation activity (proximity
to nesting beaches) and movements. For home range size and location
analyses, we calculated Kernel Density Estimates for each season at three
different temporal scales. Sea turtle nesting season influenced jaguar
activity patterns, as well as sea turtle abundance was related to j...