Evaluating mortality sources for the Vulnerable pudu Pudu puda in Chile: implications for the conservation of a threatened deer

Abstract

We assessed the importance of potential sources of mortality for the Vulnerable southern pudu Pudu puda in southern Chile using the clinical records of wildlife rehabilitation centres, necropsies of animals found in the field and a review of the diet of potential predators. To assess whether the identified mortality sources operate in nominally protected areas, we conducted a camera-trap survey in two areas to determine the presence of pudus and their potential predators. Predation by domestic dogs Canis lupus familiaris and car collisions were the commonest causes of pudu admissions to rehabilitation centres (35 of 44) and of deaths of animals encountered opportunistically in the field (seven of 14). Field data suggest that poaching could also be an important threat to pudus. Pudus were detected in both areas surveyed, accounting for 15.6% of mammal detections. Dogs accounted for 47.8% of all detections of potential predator species, followed by pumas Puma concolor (17.4%), guignas Leopardus guigna (17.4%) and chilla foxes Lycalopex griseus (17.4%). The literature survey implicated only pumas as important pudu predators among native carnivores. Our data suggest that, aside from forest loss, dogs, road kills and probably poaching are important concerns for pudu conservation. Our frequent detections of free-ranging dogs associated with roads within nominally protected areas suggest that long-term efforts to conserve pudu will require not only the protection of remnant native forest but also substantive environmental education to modify dog management near protected areas.

Domestic Dog Invasion in an Agroforestry Mosaic in Southern Bahia, Brazil

“…Not only dogs have been shown to impact native species through lethal and non-lethal effects of predation [36,37], competition [38,39], and disease transmission [40,41], but also we found in a previous study that the number of records of dogs was the main driver of the decline of native mammals in the studied agroforestry mosaic [47].…”

The Importance of Microtopography and Nurse Canopy for Successful Restoration Planting of the Slow-Growing Conifer Pilgerodendron uviferum

“…In the field, we could observe browsing by the threatened Pudu deer (Pudu pudu), one of the smallest deer in the world and endemic to Chile and Argentina [46]. Although browsing problems were low (treatments means <39% of plants were browsed), the high incidence of it in gaps (100%) gives further support to the recommendation that gaps are not favorable sites for seedling establishment.…”

Caracterización de la comunidad de mamíferos de un área remota del sur de Chile mediante el uso combinado de metodologías

“…Can & Togan 2009). Sin embargo, el número de especies identificadas en otros trabajos de trampeo fotográfico llevados a cabo en el sur de Chile fue también bajo (Silva-Rodríguez et al 2009;Hernández 2010). El hecho de que se fotografiaran individuos de pocas especies podría deberse a que la abundancia de la mayoría de especies presentes en el área de estudio sea baja, como sugieren los resultados de los transectos de indicios.…”

“…Munari et al 2011), y la mayoría de ellos hacen referencia a una especie en particular (e.g. Silva-Rodríguez et al 2009, Skewes et al 2012, Gálvez et al 2013.…”