Brown brocket deer (Mazama gouazoubira, Fischer 1814) is a species with widespread distribution in different biomes in Brazil, however little is known about habitat use in landscapes with high presence of agriculture. This research project aims to analyze the preference of habitat used by brown brocket deer in an agrosystem dedicated to production of sugarcane. Our study was carried out in northeaster portion of state of Sao Paulo in municipality of Jaboticabal at Santa Cecília farm. Our study area has about 185 ha with different formations which were classified as (i) adult sugarcane (1-3 m height), (ii) young sugarcane (up to 1m) and without sugarcane (post crop), (iii) eucalyptus and (iv) remnant native vegetation. We actively searched for signs (footprint) or visualizations in unpaved roads among cultivated plots and in perimeter of study area. Sampling was carried out monthly during two consecutive days between February 2011 and January 2012 with total effort of 204 km. Geographic coordinates and type of the surrounding vegetation was obtained for each record. Considering the rotation of annual crops, the total availability was estimated for each vegetation formation throughout the sampling period. Our results (forty four records) show that brown brocket deer avoids use open areas (young sugarcane and without sugarcane) and preferred environments near to native forests and eucalyptus. It is known that brown brocket deer presents great ecological plasticity, however the species prefers environments pervaded by remnants of native or regenerating forest, suggesting a mosaic as found in the present project can sustain populations of the species.
Brown brocket deer; footprints; use and habitat selection
