Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ibarra, Mauricio Cifuentes

Titel

Ocupación, Abundancia Relativa y Patrones de Actividad del Puma (Puma Concolor) en Pastizales Esteparios de la Patagonia

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations Publishing

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

• ProQuest

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Tesis, Magíster en Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile. 102 pp. Pumas (Puma concolor) are the top predator in Torres del Paine National Park and cattle farms. They are opportunistic predators that hunt guanacos and domestic sheep in open grasslands. However, their cryptic nature makes it difficult to understand their activity patterns, habitat use and territory occupancy. Camera traps have become a useful tool to understand puma ecology and interactions with prey, other smaller predators, tourists and cattle farms. This study aims to understand occupancy patterns, abundance and puma activity using N-mixture and occupancy models. Hierarchical modeling is used for covariable selection, considering camera trap captures of native prey, domestic livestock and human activity in the study area (fall-winter in 2019 and springsummer in 2020). Relative abundance was affected by road density in the study area during spring and summer, a proxy for increased tourist activity in the park. Also, more pumas were detected when foals appeared in the study area during spring and summer. Higher fox capture rates and increased human activity were positively correlated with puma relative abundance. A cathemeral activity pattern, mainly nocturnal during fall and winter and diurnal in spring and summer, following prey activities in the park and surrounding areas.