Authors: G I Galende E Raffaele
Publish Date: 2007/11/13
Volume: 54, Issue: 2, Pages: 299-304
Abstract
Two mediumsized herbivores with high trophic overlap coexist on rocky outcrops in the Patagonian landscape the southern vizcacha Lagidium viscacia which is a native rock specialist and the European hare Lepus europaeus which is a nonnative species We determined the patterns of space use related to distance from outcrops and analyzed spatial overlap between the two species There were significant differences between the two species in the use of space adjacent to outcrops The southern vizcacha mainly uses short and medium distances from the outcrop up to 40 m whereas the hare’s greatest activity was recorded at distances greater than 50 m However there is a partial overlap at medium distances 30–40 m among both herbivores Although in general terms there is no significant spatial overlap between hares and southern vizcachas their biological characteristics and the high dietary overlap between the species allow us to predict that if resources become scarce the hare could extend its area of activity as what happens elsewhere and exploit food resources near outcrops increasing the vulnerability of vizcacha coloniesWe wish to thank N Baccalá and S Walker for their valuable advise Two anonymous reviewers made valuable comments on our manuscript This research was supported by University National of Comahue grant UNCB126 ER is a member of the National Research Council CONICET
Keywords: