Abstract

CANEL, Delfina; SCIOSCIA, Nathalia P; DENEGRI, Guillermo M  and  KITTLEIN, Marcelo. Dieta del zorro gris pampeano (Lycalopex gymnocercus) en la provincia de Buenos Aires . Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2016, vol.23, n.2, pp.359-370. ISSN 0327-9383.

Studies of carnivore diets provide essential information on ecosystem dynamics. The Pampas fox (Lycalopex gymnocercus) is an opportunistic carnivore. From the analysis of stomach content of 70 foxes we described the diet of L. gymnocercus and compared males and females in two rural areas in Buenos Aires Province, one characterized by Espinal habitat (Villarino) and the other by Pampas grassland (Azul). Diet was described using the following indices: relative frequency, frequency of occurrence, biomass contribution and relative abundance. Sexes and locations were compared with indices of diversity and dietary overlap. Our results support the hypothesis of an opportunistic diet where murine rodents were the most frequent item, while the main biomass contribu­tion corresponded to caviomorphs, lagomorphs and carrion. These results suggest that L. gymnocercus is well adapted to rural areas with high levels of disturbance. We recorded a high dietary overlap between males and females without significant differences in prey diversity. Finally, a greater dietary diversity was observed in the Espinal, but dietary overlap was high among foxes from both regions, suggesting incipient homogenization between ecoregions due to increased human activities in these environments.

Keywords : Espinal; Human activity; Opportunism; Pampas grassland; Wild canids.