Abstract

ALBANESI, Sebastián A; JAYAT, J. Pablo  and  BROWN, Alejandro D. Patrones de actividad de mamíferos de medio y gran porte en el pedemonte de Yungas del noroeste argentino . Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2016, vol.23, n.2, pp.335-358. ISSN 0327-9383.

In the Yungas of Argentina, the piedmont forest is the most threatened altitudinal belt. The proximity to population centers and communication routes has facilitated its degradation and transformation, and mammals of this area have inevitably lost more habitat than those of other regions in the Yungas. In this context, the establishment of baselines of mammal diversity and the improvement of the knowledge of its biol­ogy and natural history constitute an important step in conservation policy implementations. In this study, we used camera traps to characterize the activity patterns of medium to large species mammals at three locations spanning the latitudinal distribution of the Yungas piedmont in Argentina. We obtained 2757 photographs for 28 species of mammals but only 18 could be properly characterized (10 or more photos each). In general, nocturnal activity patterns predominated (six species, including Didelphis albiventris, Procyon cancrivorus, Euphractus sexcinctus, Tamandua tetradactyla, Tapirus terrestris, and Sylvilagus brasiliensis), with two peaks of activity observed in both wet and dry season, and some cases of lunarphobic behavior (T. tetradactyla, D. albiventris, and T. terrestris). Only three species were diurnal (Nasua nasua, Dasyprocta punctata and Eira barbara), and one had diurnal-crepuscular activity (Puma yagouaroundi). Of the eight species classified as catemeral in activ­ity (Cerdocyon thous, Leopardus geoffroyi, L. pardalis, L. wiedii, Lycalopex gymnocercus, Mazama gouazoubira, Pecari tajacu, and Puma concolor), three were significantly more active during evening hours. These patterns are compared and discussed in the context of the knowledge for these species in other areas.

Keywords : Daily cycles; Lunar cycles; Medium and large mammals; Natural history; Subtropical forests.