ORIGINAL PAPER Relationships between variability in precipitation, river levels, and beef cattle production in the Brazilian Pantanal Ana Gabriela de J. Araujo . Guillermo O. Obrego ´n . Gilvan Sampaio . Antonio Miguel V. Monteiro . Luiz Tadeu da Silva . Balbina Soriano . Carlos Padovani . Daniel Andres Rodriguez . Jelena Maksic . Jose ´ Felipe Silva Farias Received: 18 August 2017 / Accepted: 30 May 2018 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract The hydrology of the Brazilian Pantanal, part of the largest humid tropical area on the planet, follows the rhythm of seasonal floods. The traditional movement of cattle herds in the southern Pantanal is defined by these seasonal flooding patterns, which determine the availability and quality of native-grass pastures throughout the year. Extreme hydrological events, such as prolonged droughts and intense floods, can impact the management of cattle in this region, preventing access to, circulation within, and occupation of some grazing areas. This study aims to analyze the spatial and temporal variability of precip- itation, the river levels in this region from 1974 to 2012, and assessed the effects on the evolution of local beef cattle stocks. We integrated the spatiotemporal variability of precipitation and river levels for six gaging stations and standardized these variables using standard deviation and linear trends at annual and seasonal scales. Additionally, we integrated the results with an analysis of the livestock production within the A. G. J. Araujo (&) Á G. O. Obrego ´n Earth System Science Center/National Institute for Space Research (CCST/INPE), Av. dos Astronautas, 1758, Sa ˜o Jose ´ dos Campos, SP 12227-010, Brazil e-mail: ana.araujo@inpe.br G. Sampaio Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies/ National Institute for Space Research (CPTEC/INPE), Rod. Pres. Dutra, km 39, Cachoeira Paulista, SP 12630-000, Brazil A. M. V. Monteiro General Coordination of Earth Observation/National Institute for Space Research (OBT/INPE), Av. dos Astronautas, 1758, Sa ˜o Jose ´ dos Campos, SP 12227-010, Brazil L. T. da Silva Á J. Maksic Earth System Science Center/National Institute for Space Research (CCST/INPE), Rod. Pres. Dutra, s/n., Cachoeira Paulista, SP 12630-000, Brazil B. Soriano Á C. Padovani Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA Pantanal), Rua 21 de Setembro, 1880, Corumba ´, MS 79320-900, Brazil D. A. Rodriguez Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute - Center of Technology of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPE/UFRJ), Av. Hora ´cio Macedo, 2030 – 101, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21941-450, Brazil J. F. S. Farias Universidade de E ´ vora (UNEV), Rod. Pres. Dutra, km 39, Cachoeira Paulista, SP 12630-000, Brazil 123 Wetlands Ecol Manage https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-018-9612-0