This Americas Program award will support continuation of a long-term collaborative study between Dr. Peter Feinsinger, Northern Arizona University, and Dr. Fabian M. Jaksic, Universidad Catolica de Chile. The researcher's previous work has shown that small mammal population varies greatly from year to year whereas the abundance of large insects and other foods appear to be seasonally determined. The primary objective of this research is to study the responses of predator assemblages to this complex pattern of local variation in prey densities. Based on the nature of long-term variation in the predators' use of different habitat patches over the landscape, the researchers will propose landscape-level conservation plans that will serve to buffer these predators from future local shortages in their prey. This study is likely to yield significant contributions to our knowledge of neotropical guild structure and provide guidelines for the design of refuges and preserves that will maintain populations of wide-ranging carnivores. This is an excellent collaboration in which the areas of expertise of the researchers complement each other.
