Zapata-Ríos Galo, Branch Lyn C
Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville FL, United States of America.
Wildlife Conservation Society-Ecuador Program, París, Quito Ecuador.
PLoS One. 2018 Feb 28;13(2):e0192346. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192346. eCollection 2018.
Although the Andes have long been occupied by people, habitat loss, fragmentation through deforestation, and other human activities such as introduction of invasive species have increased drastically during the past century. The Ecuadorian Andes are considered a biodiversity hotspot. However, the fauna and threats to the region are poorly studied, and understanding of factors that shape the distribution of species in habitats disturbed by human activities is needed to identify and mitigate region-wide threats to wildlife. We evaluated factors associated with patterns of occurrence of Andean carnivores in landscapes of the northern Ecuadorian Andes, particularly habitat loss, fragmentation, and occupancy of domestic dogs, and determined whether thresholds occurred for these factors beyond which carnivore occurrence declined markedly. Five study areas (each 20 x 20 km) were surveyed with a total effort of 2,800 camera trap nights. Occupancies of four of the eight carnivores known from the region were best predicted by occupancy of domestic dogs rather than measures of habitat loss and fragmentation [Andean fox (Pseudalopex culpaeus), puma (Puma concolor), striped hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus semistriatus), and Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus)]. The two largest carnivores, puma and Andean bear, demonstrated significant threshold responses to the presence of domestic dogs at two sites. Four smaller carnivores were recorded too infrequently to model occupancy, and at least two of these species appear to be in decline. The magnitude of domestic dog impacts on native species in tropical areas like the Ecuadorian Andes currently are not recognized. Results of our study indicate that small and large carnivores are in urgent need of conservation and clearly point to dogs as a significant threat to a broad range of native species.
尽管安第斯山脉长期以来一直有人居住，但在过去的一个世纪里，栖息地丧失、森林砍伐导致的破碎化以及引入入侵物种等其他人类活动急剧增加。厄瓜多尔安第斯山脉被认为是一个生物多样性热点地区。然而，该地区的动物群及其面临的威胁研究较少，需要了解在受人类活动干扰的栖息地中影响物种分布的因素，以识别和减轻对野生动物的区域范围威胁。我们评估了厄瓜多尔北部安第斯山脉景观中与安第斯食肉动物出现模式相关的因素，特别是栖息地丧失、破碎化以及家犬的占有率，并确定这些因素是否存在阈值，超过该阈值食肉动物的出现率会显著下降。我们对五个研究区域（每个区域为20×20公里）进行了调查，总共投入了2800个相机陷阱夜晚。该地区已知的八种食肉动物中，有四种的占有率最好通过家犬的占有率来预测，而不是通过栖息地丧失和破碎化的指标来预测[安第斯狐（Pseudalopex culpaeus）、美洲狮（Puma concolor）、条纹猪鼻臭鼬（Conepatus semistriatus）和安第斯熊（Tremarctos ornatus）]。两种最大的食肉动物，美洲狮和安第斯熊，在两个地点对家犬的存在表现出显著的阈值反应。另外四种较小的食肉动物记录太少，无法建立占有率模型，而且这些物种中至少有两种似乎在减少。目前，家犬对厄瓜多尔安第斯山脉等热带地区本土物种的影响程度尚未得到认识。我们的研究结果表明大小食肉动物都迫切需要保护，并明确指出家犬是对广泛本土物种的重大威胁。
