Abstract

Domestic dog is the most successful invasive mammalian predator species, and reducing its ecological impacts on wildlife is a central conservation goal globally. Free-ranging dogs can negatively interact with wildlife at multiple levels, posing issues for biodiversity conservation in tropical forests, especially in fragmented Atlantic Forest. To optimize future control programs, it is necessary to identify the main factors influencing their habitat use, particularly in natural reserves. We combined camera trapping data and occupancy models to characterize habitat use of dogs in six Atlantic Forest protected areas (134–36,000 ha). Our results show that dogs were more likely to use sites ( Ψ^ ≥ 0.90) having higher housing density (≥4.00 houses/km2) or higher proportion of croplands and pasture (≥75%) relative to sites with no houses ( Ψ^ = 0.23 ± 0.10) or lower proportion of croplands and pasture ( Ψ^ = 0.34 ± 0.08). In addition, dogs had higher detection probability at camera locations on unpaved roads ( p^ = 0.33 ± 0.05) relative to off-road sites ( p^ = 0.18 ± 0.04), and in small protected areas with high housing density, that is, more disturbed sites, dogs had higher detection probabilities. Our findings indicate that the probability of dogs using a site within protected area is mainly driven by type and intensity of human activity in the surroundings. Given the urgent need to control free-ranging dogs within protected areas, we strongly recommend that managers target sites/areas within and near protected areas that have a rural housing density ≥ 4.00 houses/km2 or higher proportion of croplands and pasture (≥75%).