Abstract

MORENO-ARIAS, RAFAEL A.; ARDILA-ROBAYO, MARÍA CRISTINA; MARTINEZ-BARRETO, WILLINGTON  and  SUAREZ-DAZA, ROBINSON MANUEL. Population ecology of spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus fuscus) in Magdalena river valley (Cundinamarca, Colombia). Caldasia [online]. 2013, vol.35, n.1, pp.25-36. ISSN 0366-5232.

For propose a conservation plan for the spectacled caiman, we studied wild populations and their habitats in lotic and lentic environments of ten sites in the Magdalena River valley in the Cundinamarca state. From night counts we detected 464 individuals and we estimated densities up to 4.3 caimans / km in lotic environments and 11.6 caimans / ha in lentic environments. The population size structure was dominated by immature individuals and the population sex ratio was 1:1. The habitat between lotic environments was different in the number of beaches, trunks or woody brides, trees on water and the amount of litter in the riparian forest. In lentic environments we found water bodies with up to 70% of floating vegetation, 49% of the perimeter with riparian forest, 83% of the perimeter with beaches, 40 trunks or woody brides and 90 trees on water while the forest cover ranged from 60 to 80% and the amount of litter ranged between 0,013 m³ and 0,028 m³. In both environments we found a positive relationship of caiman density with the amount of riparian forest, in lotic environments most individuals were detected in open water while in lentic most individuals were recorded on floating vegetation. We found that caimans use some microhabitats more than others regardless of the offer that provides the habitat.

Keywords : Spectacled caiman; Colombia; Magdalena river; density; habitat use.

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