Nicolás Fuentes-Allende
Other projects
9 Sep 2022
Effect of Seasonal Humidity on the Competition and Disease Transmission Between Wild Ungulates and Livestock in the Rural Areas of the Highland Atacama Desert
Taruka (Hippocamelus antisensis), guanaco (Lama guanicoe), vicuna (Vicugna vicugna) and lesser rhea (Rhea pennata) are threatened large herbivores that restrict to the ravines that maintain green vegetation throughout the year in the Atacama Desert. Unfortunately, climate change has reduced precipitations and their food resources in the area. This lack of resources has intensified human-wildlife conflicts, consisting in animals damaging crops and farmers persecuting them. Farmers also complain animals transmit diseases and compete for food with their livestock. I will study the effect of seasonality on the occurrence of these conflicts, and generate information that may guide managers to strengthen coexistence.
Farmer from Lupica, Arica y Parinacota. © Facundo Mercado, Fundacion Sudamerica Diversa
This proposal will support the activities of a long-term conservation initiative that I am leading in the rural areas of the Highland Atacama Desert of Chile. In this opportunity, I plan to identify how seasonal changes of environmental humidity modifies the rates of crop damage, interspecific competition and disease transmission between wild and domestic large herbivores that use unprotected feeding areas in arid environments. More than half of this project will be invested in collecting and analysing field data about habitat and diet preferences, and transmission of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis within the community of herbivores that use the humid ravines of the Atacama Desert (taruka, guanaco, vicuna, lesser rhea, feral donkeys, goat, lama), as well as preventing crop damage to reduce farmers' negative perception toward wild large herbivores. In addition, I will closely work with local shepherds and government managers throughout the project, keeping a constant and fluent communication with them to assure project success.
Feral donkey at Volcan Isluga National Park. ©Nicolas Fuentes-Allende, Fundacion Sudamerica Diversa.
One of the contributions to achieve is advising and enriching with my findings from the field the monitoring program of tarukas, guanacos, lesser rhea and vicuna that the Chilean National Park Service (CONAF https://www.conaf.cl/) is currently deploying in the area. Another contribution will be testing light deterrents to scare wild large herbivores away from croplands to reduce farmers' negative perception. Finally, dissemination of results will be another contribution of this project. I will generate informative posters to communicate main results with the local community. These will be printed and distributed within the project area during field campaigns, and posted at social media for capturing a broader audience. The main outcome of this project is to contribute with useful scientific information for improving the conservation of wild large herbivores that inhabit rural areas assuring that the welfare of local communities is not undermined.
Tarukas in Central Chapiquina. © Nicolas Fuentes-Allende, Fundacion Sudamerica Diversa.
Header: Llamas in the Andean Highland Plateau. © Nicolas Fuentes-Allende, Fundacion Sudamerica Diversa.