CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The presence of wild ungulates could have a direct impact on grassland livestock receptivity. The study of its population parameters is important for the planning of operational, technical, financial and promotional aspects of forest and pastoral areas. Our objective was to establish the total herbivory pressure in Los Peucos (Neuquén) and to relate it to its carrying capacity. For this purpose, the abundance of deer, guanacos and cattle present in the establishment was estimated and the ovine cattle equivalents (UGOs) were calculated and then related to the field receptivity. For the density estimation, mean group size and female-breeding ratio of wild herbivores, 11 line transects (106 km total) were surveyed during the autumn and spring of 2014. 622 The data were analyzed with the Distance 5.0 software, which estimates these parameters using mathematical functions based on the individuals? detectability. The abundance of livestock (horses, sheep and cattle) was reported by the farm manager. There were 66 deer and 35 wild guanacos in autumn and 115 deer and 69 guanacos in spring. The estimator showed a density of 1.46±0.59 deer/Km2 in spring while in autumn it could not be reliably estimated due to the low number of deer and guanacos. The total load of herbivores in spring was 1.05 UGOs/ha, presumably lower in autumn, given the low records number of wild ungulates at this time. Since the estimated receptivity for Los Peucos is between 0.90 and 1.66 UGOs/ha, the total herbivore load estimated in this study is within this range, indicating that there would be no negative impact on vegetation if the load was uniformly distributed in time and space in relation to the forage supply. Keywords: wild ungulates; carrying capacity; forage resources.

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