Emiliano Donadio
Other projects
26 Sep 2006
The Impact of Puma Predation and Human Harassment on Two Species of Threatened Wild South American Camelids: A Regional and Seasonal Assessment in Protected Areas of North Western Argentina
31 Oct 2013
Where the Wild Things are: Conserving Puma-Camelid-Condor Interactions in the High Andes of South America
This project has two goals: Goal I: Analyse the spatial distribution of puma predation on South American camelids in the semiarid landscapes of the Argentinean Andes.
Goal II: Investigate whether a behaviourally mediated trophic cascade triggered by pumas, and mediated by the risk of predation perceived by camelids, creates a mosaic of habitats that differ in the structure of vegetation, and abundance and diversity of plants, small vertebrates and invertebrates.
South American camelids, guanacos (Lama guanicoe) and vicuñas (Vicugna vicugna), have dramatically declined throughout their ranges due to hunting, both legal and illegal, and competition with livestock, mainly sheep. Such reduction resulted in the loss of the interaction between these camelids and their only effective predator, the puma (Puma concolor). The community-level consequences of the loss of this interaction remain unknown. Data suggest that the interplay between large predators and their ungulate prey is critical to maintain biodiversity over large areas. Where they still coexist, we propose that puma predation on guanacos and vicuñas is partially responsible for maintaining biodiversity in the landscape they inhabit. This research aims to understand the crucial role that camelid-puma interactions may have on promoting biological diversity, and highlight the importance of conserving populations of top predators and their native prey.
