Abstract
The Southern river otter or huillín Lontra provocax has been classified as ‘endangered’, with the loss of riparian forest identified as the main threat to its survival. We used new information on distribution from Argentina to define their status. There are no data on the huillin’s population structure and dynamics, and no estimate of its abundance or population trends at a relevant scale. Our survey teams covered 435 locations in lakes, rivers and coastal sites using a standard and repeatable methodology of 600 m survey transects as adopted for otter surveys across Europe. We found that its present geographic range in Argentina is slightly larger than is characteristic of a species at risk of extinction at the national level, although its contemporary distribution is still radically contracted in comparison to its historical distribution.
References
Aued, M. B., C. Chéhebar, G. Porro, D. W. Macdonald & M. H. Cassini, 2003. Environmental correlates of distribution of Southern river otters (Lontra provocax) at different ecological scales. Oryx 37: 413–421.
Bonesi, L. & D. W. Macdonald, 2004. Evaluation of sign surveys as a way to estimate the relative abundance of American mink (Mustela vison). Journal of Zoology (London) 262: 65–72.
Cabrera, A. L., 1971. Fitogeografía de la República Argentina. Boletín de la Sociedad Argentina de Botánica 14: 1–42.
Carmanchahi, P., M. C. Funes, M. B. Bongiorno & O. B. Monsalvo, 2006. Actualización de la distribución del huillín en la provincia del Neuquén. In Cassini, M. H. & M. Sepúlveda (eds), El Huillín Lontra provocax: Investigaciones sobre una nutria patagónica en peligro de extinción, Serie Fauna Neotropical 1. Publicación de la Organización PROFAUNA, Buenos Aires: 105–111.
Cassini, M. H., L. Fasola, C. Chehébar & D. W. Macdonald, 2009. Scale-dependent analysis of an otter-crustacean system in Argentinean Patagonia. Naturwissenschaften 96: 593–599.
Centrón, D., B. Ramirez, L. Fasola, D. Macdonald, C. Chehébar, A. Schiavini & M. H. Cassini, 2008. Genetic diversity in Southern river otter (Lontra provocax) in Argentinean Patagonia. Journal of Heredity. doi:10.1093/jhered/esm117.
Chebez, J. C., 1999. Los que se van, especies Argentinas en peligro. Albatros, Buenos Aires.
Chehébar, C., 1985. A survey of the Southern River Otter Lutra provocax Thomas in Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina. Biological Conservation 32: 299–307.
Chehébar, C. & G. Porro, 1998. Distribución y estatus del Huillín (Lutra provocax) en el Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, Argentina. Vida Silvestre Neotropical 7: 99–106.
Chehébar, C., A. Gallur, G. Giannico, M. Gottelli & P. Yorio, 1986. A survey of the southern river otter Lutra provocax in Lanín Puelo and Los Alerces National Parks, Argentina and evaluation of its conservation status. Biological Conservation 38: 293–304.
Ciancio, J. E., M. A. Pascual & D. A. Beauchamp, 2007. Energy density of Patagonian aquatic organisms and empirical predictions based on water content. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 136: 1415–1422.
Gomez, J. J. & M. H. Cassini, 2010. Uso de pelos guardianes para la identificación de especies de carnívoros costeros en la Patagonia. Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía (Chile).
Hayward, M. W., 2009. The need to rationalize and prioritize threatening processes used to determine threat status in the IUCN red list. Conservation Biology 23: 1568–1576.
IUCN, 2001. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
IUCN, 2003. Guidelines for application of IUCN Red List criteria at regional levels: version 3.0. IUCN Species Survival Commission. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Jenness, J., 2004. Convex hulls around points (conv_hulls_pts.avx) extension for Arc View 3.x, v.1.2 Jenness Enterprises. http://www.jennessent.com/arcview/, http://www.jennessent.com/arcview/convex_hulls.htm.
Macdonald, S. M., 1983. The status of the otter (Lutra lutra) in the British Isles. Mammal Review 13: 11–23.
Mason, C. F. & S. M. Macdonald, 1987. The use of spraints for surveying otter Lutra lutra populations: an evaluation. Biological Conservation 41: 167–177.
Medina-Vogel, G., V. R. Kaufman, R. Monsalve & V. Gomez, 2003. The influence of riparian vegetation, woody debris, stream morphology and human activity on the use of rivers by southern river otters in Lontra provocax in Chile. Oryx 37: 422–430.
Parera, A., A. Schiavini & E. Frere, 1997. Relevamiento ecológico de la Isla de los Estados: Observaciones sobre su estado de conservación y sugerencias de manejo. Boletín Técnico No. 38 de la Fundación Vida Silvestre, Buenos Aires.
Sepulveda, M., J. L. Bartheld, R. Monsalve, V. Gómez & G. Medina-Vogel, 2007. Habitat use and spatial behaviour of the endangered Southern river otter (Lontra provocax) in riparian habitats of Chile: conservation implications. Biological Conservation 140: 329–338.
Sepulveda, M., M. Franco, G. Medina, L. Fasola & R. Alvarez, 2008. Lontra provocax. In IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed on 30 November 2009.
Sepulveda, M. A., J. L. Bartheld, C. Meynard, M. Benavides, C. Astorga, D. Parra & G. Medina-Vogel, 2009. Landscape features and crustacean prey as predictors of the Southern river otter distribution in Chile. Animal Conservation 12(6): 522–530.
Acknowledgements
We are deeply grateful to Gerardo Porro, Marcelo Bello and Leonardo R. Leggieri for their collaboration with the fieldwork. GIS analysis was supervised by Leonardo Di Franco and PRODITEL-UNLu provided GIS software. The study was financed by the Darwin Initiative (United Kingdom) and the Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Técnica (Argentina, PICT 14173). MHC is a researcher in the CONICET. We are grateful to Hans Kruuk and Lauren Harrington for helpful comments on the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Handling editor: M. Power
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cassini, M.H., Fasola, L., Chehébar, C. et al. Defining conservation status using limited information: the case of Patagonian otters Lontra provocax in Argentina. Hydrobiologia 652, 389–394 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0332-6
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-010-0332-6