The dark side of the black caiman: Shedding light on species dietary ecology and movement in Agami Pond, French Guiana.

ABSTRACT: The black caiman is one of the largest neotropical top predators, which means that it could play a structuring role within swamp ecosystems. However, because of the difficulties inherent to studying black caimans, data are sorely lacking on many aspects of their general biology, natural history, and ecology, especially in French Guiana. We conducted a detailed study of the Agami Pond black caiman population using a multidisciplinary approach. The aim was to better understand the species' dietary ecology and movements in the pond, and thus its functional role in pond system. We gathered natural history data, tracked caiman movements using satellite transmitters, and characterized feeding ecology via stable isotope analysis. Our study was carried out over three sampling periods and spanned b

SUBMITTER: Caut S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6590786 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature