Virtually all large-bodied wild carnivore species have experienced population declines worldwide 2, 5. Thus, their long-term population viability requires large-scale conservation planning approaches that include networks of protected areas and connectivity corridors (e.g., refs. However, many populations are rapidly declining, and are particularly vulnerable to local extinction because the species occurs at low densities, experiences slow population growth rates, and requires large areas containing a healthy prey base to survive 3, 4, 5, 6. Large terrestrial carnivores such as jaguars Panthera onca exert critical roles in maintaining ecosystem health and integrity 1, 2. The predicament of a safe future for jaguars can only be ensured if protected areas persist and resist downgrading and downsizing due to both external anthropogenic threats and geopolitical pressures (e.g., infrastructure development and frail law enforcement). Many of these are located at the deforestation frontier or in important boundaries with neighboring countries (e.g., Peruvian, Colombian and Venezuelan Amazon). By contrasting the highest threats with the highest jaguar population sizes in a bivariate plot, we provide a shortlist of the top-10 protected areas that should be prioritized for immediate jaguar conservation efforts and 74 for short-term action. Jaguars are threatened in the world’s largest tropical forest biome by deforestation associated with anthropogenic fires, and the subsequent establishment of pastures. Our results reveal that areas containing the largest jaguar densities and the largest estimated population sizes are precisely among those confronting most anthropogenic threats. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and comparisons of measures of central tendency.
Based on geospatial layers, we extracted socio-environmental variables for 447 protected areas across the Brazilian Amazon to identify those that merit short-term high-priority efforts to maximize jaguar persistence. Yet, this iconic species have been declining due to multiple threats, such as habitat loss and hunting, which are rapidly increasing across the New World tropics. Jaguars ( Panthera onca) exert critical top-down control over large vertebrates across the Neotropics.
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