Abstract

GUERRA-CARDENAS, Waldo; MARTINEZ-GARCIA, Sharon; BERMUDEZ, Adriana  and  NAVAS-S, Gabriel R.. Population status of the American crocodile Crocodylus acutus Cuvier and spectacled caiman Caiman crocodilus fuscus (Cope) in Puerto Badel and Correa municipalities, department of Bolívar, Colombia. Rev. acad. colomb. cienc. exact. fis. nat. [online]. 2020, vol.44, n.170, pp.182-193.  Epub June 15, 2021. ISSN 0370-3908.  https://doi.org/10.18257/raccefyn.797.

We assessed the spatial distribution, relative abundance, and size distribution in classes of Crocodylus acutus and Caiman crocodilus fuscus in Puerto Badel and Correa municipalities, Bolívar department, using monthly spotlight surveys on four sampling routes between November 2015 and March 2016. We covered 14 marshes and ten streams, amounting to approximately 215 km (X = 14.3 ± 5.9 km). We recorded 332 sightings during the study, 26 of C. acutus and 306 of C. c. fuscus. We estimated a relative abundance of 0.11 sightings/km for C. acutus and 1.26 for C. c. fuscus. We found populations without adults and with a large proportion ofjuveniles in both species. C. acutus population size ranged between zero and nine individuals (n=3.89 ± 5.18) in Puerto Badel and from six to 22 (n=13.99 ± 7.99) in Correa. The estimated population of C. c. fuscus ranged between 49 and 81 individuals (n=64.80 ± 15.72) in Puerto Badel and that of the spectacled caimans between 81 and 117 (n=100.72 ± 15.56) in Correa.

Keywords : Crocodilia; Crocodylidae; Alligatoridae; population structure; Caribbean; Neotropic.

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