Abstract
Wild ungulates like the guanaco are exposed to important changes in climate and plant diversity along altitudinal gradients in the Andes Mountains, such as in the Southern Andean Precordillera where three phytogeographic provinces are present in altitudinal belts. The guanaco’s diet and food availability were seasonally analyzed using microhistological analysis and point-quadrat transects at six sampling sites, representative of the phytogeographic belts along the altitudinal gradient. Plant cover and diversity decreased with growing altitude. Richness of plant species was poorer at the summit than in the lower altitudes, whereas the proportion of species eaten by guanacos increased with altitude. The diet included 77 species. Grasses were preferred and shrubs were avoided all year round. The grass Poa spp. occupied more than 50 % of the diet at all altitudes. Grasses were the main dietary item even at low altitudes, where shrubs constituted the main food available. Decreasing generalism with descending phytogeographic belts agrees with the prediction for altitudinal gradients. The increase of diversity in the diet during the winter decline of plant cover at high and middle altitudes follows that expected from the optimal foraging theory. The winter decline of vegetation and the dietary shift from grazing to browsing proved to be stronger as altitude increases and the climate become more rigorous. Plant species richness, food scarcity, and climate severity are relevant variables to explain altitudinal and seasonal changes in the diet of adaptive ungulates in mountain environments, such as the guanaco in the Southern Andean Precordillera.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful for the kind hospitality and assistance in fieldworks to S. Giudici (responsible for the Villavicencio protected area) and to the ranger team of the Villavicencio Reserve (DRNR, Mendoza). We thank A. Diblasi and M. Mosca Torres for their contribution on improving the statistical analyses, N. Horak for her assistance in the English translation, and MI Cona for her enriching suggestions on the manuscript. We thank D.P.J. Kuijper, the anonymous reviewer, and the editor for their valuable suggestions. This study was supported by the National Council of the Scientific and Technical Researches of Argentina through a research grant (PIP 239).
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Communicated by: Karol Zub
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Puig, S., Rosi, M.I., Videla, F. et al. Food selection by the guanaco (Lama guanicoe) along an altitudinal gradient in the Southern Andean Precordillera (Argentina). Acta Theriol 59, 541–551 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-014-0191-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-014-0191-z