Map of potential aptitude for capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) in the Corrientes province, Argentina

SCHIVO, FACUNDO; QUINTANA, RUBÉN D.; KANDUS, PATRICIA

Cuiabá, MT

Congreso; 8th International Wetlands Conference INTECOL.; 2008

INTECOL.

The capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) is a semiacuatic rodent that lives in South America´s wetlands. In Argentina, the Corrientes province has the most important populations of this rodent which are undergoing an intensive commercial exploitation. This raises the need to plan their use in a sustainable manner. A fundamental step to acquire it, is to understand the suitability of different types of habitat for the capybara. Its suitable habitat is given by a set of landscape elements that includes a mosaic of habitat types for covering their ecological requirements. The critical element of capybara habitat is water, which is used for thermoregulation, mating, refuge or escape from predators. The other important habitat element is the cover and type of vegetation, which is an essential component for forage, shelter and rest. In this work, we generated a  mosaic of  Landsat 7 ETM+ 2000-01 images as a base for the hydrological layers information, and the Carnevali´s phytogeographic classification was used to describe the vegetation, habitat types and landscape units. Sub-indices were generated taking into account the ecological requirements for foraging, shelter, resting, thermoregulation and mating. Its spatial expression was established through the use of geographic information systems (GIS). In the planning of the different layers of information, and the calculation of various indices, the program ArcGis 9 was used. A map of potential habitat suitability for the province of Corrientes was obtained as a linear combination of the indices, which serve as a basis for planning future surveys of this rodent population.