Data from: Human disturbance and the activity patterns and temporal overlap of tapirs and jaguars in reserves of NW Belize.

Human disturbance from tourism and other non-consumptive activities in
protected areas may be stressful to wildlife. Animals may move away in
space or time to avoid human interaction. For species of particular
conservation concern, such as Baird’s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) and jaguars
(Panthera onca), a better understanding of how they respond to different
levels and types of disturbance is needed in order to manage human
visitation to parks in ways that minimize negative outcomes for wildlife.
We describe the overlap of activity patterns of tapirs, jaguars, and
humans at logged and unlogged sites and at places with low versus high
human visitation using camera survey data from protected areas of
northwest Belize, 2013-2016. Tapirs were nocturnal in all study sites,
with >80 percent of all tapir detections occurring between 1900 h
and 0500 h. Their activity patterns were not different in unlogged versus
logged sites and did not change with increased human traffic. Jaguars were
cathemeral across sites, but had more nocturnal activity at the site with
the most human impact. Activity pattern overlap between tapirs and jaguars
did not differ significantly between logged and unlogged sites, nor
between areas with low and high human activity. Human traffic increased
from 2013-2016 at most of the study locations. In conclusion, this camera
trap dataset suggests that non-consumptive human disturbance does not
alter the activity patterns of tapirs and jaguars in protected areas
lacking hunting pressure.