Contact Information
Phone:(808) 956-3937
Fax: (808) 956-3923
Email: pcapece@hawaii.edu

University of Hawai`i at Manoa
3190 Maile Way, Room 101
Honolulu, HI 96822

Affiliations
Botany

Thesis Title: Estimating Jaguar densities using capture-recapture analysis: comparison of a protected area and an unprotected area in Roraima, northern Brazil

Personal Statement:

I am driven to pursue an M.S. degree by a growing intrigue for tropical biodiversity and the application of such knowledge toward the remediation of conservation problems. I have intense concern for global reductions and rapid loss of intact ecosystems. For thesis research I am interested in conducting investigative studies to determine the ecological factors contributing to the maintenance of healthy tropical forests. Within this framework, my scientific interests lie with the ecology of terrestrial mammals. I recognize the importance of quantifying the effects of carnivores, herbivores, and frugivores on communities. In areas where native mammals are extirpated or occur in unnaturally low frequencies, the loss of plant-animal interactions has resulting implications for seed dispersal and recruitment. In cases of exotic mammal introductions, natural processes and native species are greatly impacted, leading to a degradation of the existing processes in the ecosystem. I feel that an in-depth awareness of mammalian ecology is a crucial component in grasping the complexity of entire ecosystems, and I intend to make this the focus of my graduate research.

My thesis research aims to provide density estimations of jaguars for a geographic area of unknown jaguar population status using photographic capture-recapture models. In intend to describe whether, and by how much, jaguar densities differ between two sites of similar forest structure, but with differing protection status and anthropogenic influences in order to provide empirical data on the role of protected zones existing within greater areas under mixed land-use and resource-use practices in maintaining healthy populations of jaguars. I will relate jaguar densities specifically to prey availability and subsistence hunting pressure of the prey base. Once these data have been assessed, efforts can then be directed to elucidate more precisely the effects of these top-predators on ecosystem dynamics.

Publications:
Capece, P.I., E. Aliaga-Rossel, R.S. Moreno, and J.M.V. Fragoso. In prep. "Seeds dispersed by the Central American tapir (Tapirus bairdii) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama"