Relaciones entre guanaco, ganado y vegetación en la Reserva La Payunia (Mendoza, Argentina).

PUIG, S.; VIDELA, F.; CONA, M.I.; ROSI, M.I.; ROIG, V.G.

Catamarca

Congreso; IV Congreso Mundial sobre Camélidos; 2006

FIDA, CFI, Fundación Biodiversidad

Wild camelids and livestock share environments where the risk of desertification makes it relevant to study their interactions and effects on the habitat. The distribution of densities of guanacos and livestock is analyzed considering environmental variables relevant in La Payunia Reserve. Several domestic herbivores graze in the protected area, which is refuge to an important population of guanacos. The Distance program was applied to estimate densities, the point-quadrat method to analyze the vegetation, and the Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA to dectect significant differences. Estimated mean densities were 11.3 ind./km² (CV: 9.9%) for guanacos and 11.7 ind./km² (13.3%) for livestock (cattle, horses, goats and sheep, expressed as guanaco equivalents). The density of guanacos was significantly higher where there was lower livestock density, especially cattle, higher plant cover and availability of grasses. Increments in the density of guanacos were related to the increase of plant cover in summer, and to the appearance of temporary water bodies. The presence of livestock, combined with its grazing effect on food availability, would be affecting the use of the habitat by guanacos in the protected area. The ephemeral availability of water in the environment, which restricts the advance of livestock on the protected area, indirectly favors the preservation of the plant resource in key habitats for the guanaco. Key words: ecological interactions ? habitat use - wild camelids ? domestic ungulates