Nuevas metodologías para la conservación de fauna y sus aportes al control de la Echinococcosis Neotropical

DE MATTEO KE; CF ARGÜELLES; M RINAS

CABA

Mesa redonda; 1ra. Reunión de Echinococcosis Neotropical del Cono Sur y Pan Amazonia; 2014

Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas (INEI) ANLIS Dr. Carlos G. Malbrán

Our work has been focused in the province of Misiones, which is located in NE Argentina and bordered by Paraguay and Brazil. Misiones is unique in that it contains the largest remaining tract of interior Atlantic forest. In fact, almost half of Misiones remains forested. However, only about half of the native forest is located in protected areas and each of these protected areas is at risk of becoming an isolated island surrounded by human-modified habitat due to continuing land conversion. The forest that is located outside of protected areas is found in a mosaic of: monoculture stands of pine and eucalyptus, small-scale agriculture with perennial crops of tea and yerba mate, areas of subsistence agriculture, pastures that are typically dominated by African grasses, and urban areas. Our goal was to gain insight into how five wide-ranging carnivores (jaguar, puma, ocelot, oncilla, and bush dog) move relative to different habitat types, including human modified areas. Information on habitat preferences has allowed us to model optimal locations for biological corridors that maximize species mobility between protected areas while minimizing the potential for human-wildlife conflict.The techniques that we are using to achieve this have been the key to our success! Standard survey techniques have one major limitation in common, they are dependent on attracting a target species to a specific location. Therefore the results from these techniques will not be accurate if: species actively avoids area where technique is established or species is simply rare. These technique have had limited success with rare or elusive species. Detection dogs, genetic analyses of scat, and GIS technology provide a set of noninvasive techniques that opens the door to studies in areas that were previously difficult or impossible with standard survey techniques. In addition, conservationists gain a set of tools that allow them to efficiently collect a large number of samples from select target species over a large area and across multiple habitat types allowing for a wide-range of questions to be addressed