Intrinsic and environmental drivers of diet quality of wild guanacos (Lama guanicoe)

GREGORIO PABLO; ANTONELLA PANEBIANCO; ANTONELA MAROZZI; FIAMA PEÑA; RAMIRO OVEJERO; LEGGIERI, LEONARDO R.; PABLO CARMANCHAHI

Congreso; 100th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists; 2021

American Society of Mammalogists

In arid ecosystems, adaptations are key to obtain nutrients. Understanding the dietquality of wild ungulates can provide eco-physiological clues about the strategies tosurvive in these environments. The guanaco is the largest native ungulate in aridenvironments of Argentina, depicting an interesting model for the comprehension ofherbivore adaptations to low-resource scenarios. We aimed to: 1) evaluate the influenceof sex and social grouping on diet quality, and 2) understand how the diet quality variesaccording to environmental conditions: primary productivity, seasonality and vegetationtype (grasslands, shrublands) in wild guanacos at two Protected Areas from NorthernPatagonia: La Payunia (LP, a migratory population), and Auca Mahuida (AM, asedentary population). We collected fresh fecal samples (n=220) and quantifiednitrogen content as a proxy of diet quality. Linear models with a beta error distributionwere adjusted and selected following AIC weighting. Diet quality was influenced bysocial grouping, season, and primary productivity. In LP, nitrogen content was higher inmixed and family groups, and in AM, it was higher in mixed and solitary units. At bothpopulations, nitrogen content was higher in summer, which was associated with highprimary productivity. Additionally, in AM, nitrogen content was higher in shrublands.These results complement previous studies on the nutritional ecology of the guanacoand contribute to the understanding of the adaptations of wild ungulates to arid environments.