Remnants of native forests support carnivore diversity in the vineyard landscapes of central Chile

Camila B García,Alexander Neaman,Javiera Díaz-Forestier,Karina Godoy,Camila Bravo,Sebastián Abades,María I Undurraga,Olga Barbosa,Juan L Celis-Diez,Gabriella L Svensson

doi:10.1017/s0030605319000152

Abstract

AbstractCarnivores play an important role in ecosystem functioning as apex predators. However, most carnivore species are threatened or have been extirpated in human-dominated landscapes. The Mediterranean region of central Chile is a biodiversity hotspot, but expansion of agricultural areas such as vineyards is degrading wildlife habitat. We estimated the species richness and composition of carnivore communities in remnant fragments of sclerophyllous forest-shrubland in the vineyard landscapes of central Chile to evaluate the effects of human disturbance at different spatial scales. We tested two hypotheses: (1) vineyard landscapes with higher levels of human disturbance support a lower diversity of native carnivores in fragments of remnant native vegetation compared to landscapes with larger areas of natural habitat, and (2) habitat specialists and generalists respond differentially to human influence at the habitat vs landscape spatial scale. We used camera traps at 12 sites across the study area and evaluated the impact of human disturbance indicators on the richness and detection frequency of carnivore species. We found that human population density negatively affected carnivore richness and was associated with a lower detection frequency of the Vulnerable guiñaLeopardus guigna. The presence of domestic dogs also had a negative effect on the detection frequency of the guiña and the two native species of foxes, the culpeoLycalopex culpaeusand South American grey foxLycalopex griseus. We conclude that protecting remnants of native forest in vineyard landscapes is crucial for carnivore conservation in central Chile.

Highlights

Carnivores play an important role in the functioning of natural ecosystems as apex predators (Miller et al, )
We evaluated the effect of habitat characteristics on carnivores at two spatial scales: ( ) at the local habitat level, defined as the area within a circular plot with a radius of m around each camera trap, and ( ) at the landscape level, defined as the area within circular plots of, and km radius from the centroid of the camera traps at each site
The guiña is considered Vulnerable, the pampas cat Near Threatened, Molina’s hog-nosed skunk Rare, and the two foxes and the grison are of Least Concern according to national categorization (Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, ), which is based on the IUCN Red List categories and the Chilean hunting law (Ministerio de Agricultura, ; Table )

Summary

Introduction

Carnivores play an important role in the functioning of natural ecosystems as apex predators (Miller et al, ). Anthropogenic activities such as agricultural and urban expansion resulting in habitat loss and degradation, introduction of invasive species, and hunting, threaten carnivores and put them at risk of extinction (Purvis et al, ; Crooks, ; Farris et al, ). Protecting areas large enough to support carnivore populations is likely to benefit many other species and natural communities with smaller habitat requirements (Noss et al, ; Thorne et al, ). Carnivores are at risk from road traffic and retaliatory killings in response to poultry and livestock depredation (Sanderson et al, ; Inskip & Zimmermann, ; Farris et al, )

Methods

Results

Conclusion