“The effects of spatial and feeding ecology of pampas carnivores on their capacity of adaptation to habitat modifications“.

LUCHERINI, MAURO; MANFREDI, CLAUDIA; LUENGOS VIDAL, ESTELA; CASTILLO, DIEGO; SAVINI, SIMONA; CASANAVE, EMMA

Brasilia

Conferencia; XIX Annual Meeting of Society for Conservation Biology; 2005

Society for Conservation Biology

Despite the Pampas being one of the largest and most strongly modified eco-regions of Argentina, almost nothing is known about its carnivores and the effects on then alterations. Here we present the first radiotelemetry and fecal analysis data on the Pampas fox, Pseudalopex gymnocercus, Geoffoy´s cat, Oncifelis geoffroyi, Lesser grison, Galictis cuja and common hog nosed skunk, Conepatus chinga, collected in a protected area of the southern Pampas, and use them to understand the variations in carnivore guild composition (eastimated through live-trapping frecuency) between three areas with diferent degree of human impact. P. gymnocercus, wich is abundant in all areas, has omnivorous and oportunistic feeding habits, its home range is comparatively small and use all types of habitats. O. geoffroyi, which no longer occurs in the most modified area and is rare in other ones, has a relatively reduced food niche, large home ranges and shows a preference for habitats with dense vegetations. The cases on G. cuja and C. chinga would be intermediate. these results suggest that habitat, space and food requiriments affect the capacity of adaptation of carnivores to human modifications in the Pampas grassland and provides guidelines for their conservation/management in this eco-region.