Dieta del zorro culpeo Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) durante la megasequía de Chile central: rol del ganado y evidencia de una alta interacción
                 trófica entre mamíferos carnívoros

Lobos, Gabriel; Tapia, Gianina; Alzamora, Alejandra; Rebolledo, Nicolás; Salinas, Hugo; Trujillos, Juan Carlos; Girón, Gustavo; Ascanio, Rafael

doi:10.31687/saremmn.20.27.2.0.10

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The second scenario is that predators and scavengers may stay in the Reserve and intensify predation on alternative prey such as native rodents [61]. This may translate into more predation pressure on those populations, which currently suffer from an intense megadrought in central Chile [110,111]. Likewise, there could be cascading effects on scavengers that feed on rabbit predators (e.g., Andean condor) [93].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?

Gübelin

Correa-Cuadros

Ávila‐Thieme

et al. 2023

Life

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The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is one of the main invasive species in Chile, where it became naturalized ca. 150 years ago. Their high reproductive capacity, lack of specialist predators, and great adaptability favored the settlement of rabbits in diverse mainland and island ecosystems of the country. Recently, rabbits have become central players in semi-arid ecosystems, such as those represented in Las Chinchillas National Reserve in north-central Chile. We undertook to analyze the place and role of rabbits in the food web of that Reserve, based on a bibliographic review and long-term annual data gathered from 1987 until 2022 (36 years). Results showed that the network comprised 77 species, where 69% were primary producers (plants), 18% were mid-level consumers (herbivores), and 13% were top-level consumers (predators). The most connected species in the food web was the rabbit, which positively or negatively affected the species interacting with it. Predators such as Galictis cuja, Geranoaetus polyosoma, Leopardus colocolo, and Puma concolor, and the scavenger Vultur gryphus, could be negatively affected by an eventual decrease (natural or human-caused) in the rabbit population of the Reserve. To the contrary, primary producers such as Oxalis perdicaria, Plantago hispidula, Schizanthus parvulus, Senna cumminggi, and Tropaeolum azureum could be positively affected by an increase in their biomass in response to a decrease in rabbits, favoring native rodents. We consider that analyzing the rabbit-centered food web and its impacts on native interacting species allows a better understanding of the relevance of invasive species in the local community, providing conceptual tools for rabbit management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?

Gübelin

Correa-Cuadros

Ávila‐Thieme

et al. 2023

Life

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“…These vegetation blooms trigger upward‐cascading effects on the food web, increasing rodent abundance by one to two orders of magnitude (Jaksic et al 1992, Lima et al 1999, 2002, 2006, Previtali et al 2009). Subsequently, there are one year delayed increases in predator abundance and diversity, including both mammalian carnivores and avian raptors (Jaksic et al 1992, 1997, Lobos et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variable interspecific competition under megadrought conditions: rodent population dynamics in semiarid Chile

Lima

Correa-Cuadros

Henríquez

et al. 2023

Oikos

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Deciphering how climatic variability modulates the interspecific interactions in natural systems is one of the most interesting and least studied ecological processes. Rodent outbreaks or irruptions in semiarid Chile are associated with rainfall pulses driven by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). During the last decade, north‐central Chile has experienced an almost uninterrupted sequence of > 10 dry years, the so‐called megadrought, which had led to a new ecological benchmark in this region. We employ a diagnostic approach to analyze abundance data regarding two rodent species, Phyllotis darwini and Abrothrix olivacea, using a 33 year time series spanning from 1987 to 2019. Our population dynamic models provide evidence of competitive interactions within and between both species. This result is novel because we show that rainfall variability influences the degree of interspecific competition and that it is asymmetric. The diagnostic approach used here offers a way to develop simple population models that are useful for understanding the causes of population fluctuations and for predicting population changes under a climate change scenario.

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Where is dinner? The spatiality of the trophic niche of terrestrial mammalian carnivores in Chile, a systematization for their conservation

Vallejos-Garrido,

Zamora-Cornejo,

Rivera

et al. 2024

Rev. Chil. de Hist. Nat.

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Knowing what the highest-level mammalian carnivores and intermediate levels eat throughout the geography and how human activities may affect their community dynamics is relevant information to focusing and deciding on conservation efforts within a territory. In this review, we characterize geographically the accumulated knowledge about the trophic niche of terrestrial mammalian carnivore species and evaluate the spatial relationship between the species richness distribution and the geographical distribution of their trophic knowledge in Chile. We found 88 peer-reviewed papers that include trophic studies per se, theses, and short notes carried out in Chile, where at least one trophic element was reported for terrestrial mammalian carnivore species. We found a positive relationship between the species richness distribution pattern and the spatial distribution of accumulated trophic knowledge, i.e., most of the papers have been conducted in Central-southern Chile (Central Chile and Temperate Forest ecoregions) responding to the highest co-occurrence of carnivore species within the limits of the biodiversity hotspot, the most threatened area in the country. Despite this general relationship, we recognize gaps in knowledge regarding regions of the country that require more research effort, such as O’Higgins, Maule, and Ñuble regions, as well as focus efforts on certain species with no or almost no knowledge of their trophic ecology, such as Leopardus colocola, Lyncodon patagonicus and Conepatus chinga. Except for the northern Chilean ecosystems, there is a generalized report of high consumption of exotic mammals in the diet of carnivores in the center and south of the country. However, of the 98 localities recognized in the 88 papers, 20.4% correspond to an anthropized environment, while most (79.6%) correspond to a “non-anthropized” environment or protected area. We hope this review allows researchers and decision-makers to consider the knowledge and lack thereof of carnivore trophic interactions as an opportunity to conserve entire natural communities throughout the Chilean territory.

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Dieta del zorro culpeo Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) durante la megasequía de Chile central: rol del ganado y evidencia de una alta interacción trófica entre mamíferos carnívoros

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?

European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?

Variable interspecific competition under megadrought conditions: rodent population dynamics in semiarid Chile

Where is dinner? The spatiality of the trophic niche of terrestrial mammalian carnivores in Chile, a systematization for their conservation

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