Forest cover outside protected areas plays an important role in the conservation of the Vulnerable guiña Leopardus guigna

Abstract

Habitat loss and fragmentation are affecting populations of forest dwelling mammalian carnivores worldwide. In southern Chile, a biodiversity hotspot, anthropogenic activities have resulted in high loss of native forest cover. The guiña, or kodkod cat, Leopardus guigna is a small forest-dwelling felid with a narrow range in the temperate forest of southern Chile. The few existing studies of the species have suggested that it is almost exclusively restricted to large tracts of native forest. This paper reports a study in the temperate forest within a fragmented Andean piedmont landscape which demonstrates that smaller forest fragments in the farmland matrix are playing a key role in the persistence of the guiña. We estimated occupancy in both continuous native forest and remnant forest fragments and, with single-species/single-season models, evaluated the extent to which forest cover, habitat type and proximity to protected areas have a modulating effect on occupancy. A continuous survey during 2008-2009, in three seasons of 90-100 days each, accumulated 6,200 camera trap days and returned 47 photographs of guiña. Total detection in fragments was higher than in continuous forests, with detection confirmed in almost 70% of studied fragments. We found that probability of a site being occupied significantly increased with forest cover (adult/secondary forest, scrubland) and probability was low (, 0.2) in sites with , 50% of surrounding forest cover. Our study highlights the importance of remnant forest fragments in the mosaic of extensive agriculture for the spatial dynamics of a guiña population and hence for the future conservation of the species.

Güiña (Leopardus guigna) preys on cavity-nesting nestlings

“…It has a limited distribution, restricted to a narrow strip within the temperate forests in south-central [70][71][72][73][74][75] (Redford & Eisenberg 1992), inhabiting continuous and fragmented forests (Gálvez et al 2013). The güiña has been described as a nocturnal carnivore (Hernández et al Unpublished data), suggesting daily activity synchronization with small rodents, its primary prey item (up to 82 %; Dunstone et al 2002, Correa & Roa 2005 Sanderson et al 2002, Freer 2004.…”

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

“…Por ejemplo, la güiña, pequeño felino característico del bosque templado húmedo chileno (Gálvez et al 2013), cuyo estado de conservación es Vulnerable según la UICN (Acosta & Lucherini 2008), parece ser abundante en Huinay según nuestros resultados. Por otro lado, varias de las personas encuestadas manifestaron haber visto algún visón americano en Huinay.…”

“…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.…”

Experimental Evaluation of Sediment Yield in the First Year After Replacement of Pastures by Sugarcane

“…Agriculture showed the highest decrease in the area, decreasing in 116,829 ha, during the same time period (this land use represents 24.5% of the total area). Within the La Araucanía Region, Pucón County maintains an important cover of native forest, which is considered essential for wildlife conservation (Ibarra et al, 2012;Gálvez et al, 2013;Ibarra and Martin, 2015). In contrast, this county has the highest annual population growth rate in the district (INE, 2008), and during the summer, the number of tourists can double or even triple the resident population (Municipalidad de Pucón, 2007).…”