Behavioural response of free-ranging guanacos (Lama guanicoe) to land-use change: habituation to motorised vehicles in a recently created reserve

摘要: Context. Guanacos, the only native ungulates inhabiting Patagonian arid lands, are perceived by local people as a threat to livestock production and, consequently, uncontrolled hunting and harassment widespread across region. In 2005, traditional sheep ranch (RSP) was converted into wildlife reserve, offering opportunity assess changes in guanaco tolerance motorised vehicles after ceased. Aims. The aims of present study were address factors influencing flight response on RSP, interannual variation responses management changed compare cars among RSP population, neighbouring ranches with southern population (C2B) that has had effective protection since early 1970s. Methods.FieldsurveysusingavailableroadsatRSPwereconductedduringa4-yearperiodtoassessinter-annualchanges inguanaco flightprobability.Currentestimatesof flightprobabilityatRSPwerethencomparedwithpointestimatesobtained from C2B population. Results.Wefoundthat flightprobabilityatRSPdecreasedasgroupswerelocatedfartherfromthetransectlineandgroups at least one juvenile more likely flee than adult-only groups. Flight probability decreased progressively duringthestudyandsignificantdifferenceswithinitialconditionsemergedduringthefourthyearofmonitoring.Thecurrent responseobservedat RSPisconsistentwith anintermediate statebetweenneighbouringranches andC2Bpopulation. Keyconclusion.Ourresultssupportthehypothesisthatguanacoscanbecomerapidlyhabituatedtovehiclesifharassment ceases subsequent traffic acts neutral stimulus for enough time. Implications. Finally, we discuss how our results may be helpful other recently created reserves ecotourism oriented projects.