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Large-scale assessment of the presence of Darwin’s fox across its newly discovered range

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Abstract

The Darwin’s fox is one of the most threatened carnivores worldwide and was thought to occur in only two isolated areas. Recently this canid was found in the Valdivian Coastal Range, between the previously known populations, but other than their presence, little is known about these populations. Here we report the results of camera trap surveys conducted between 2012 and 2016 (18,872 camera days), including surveys in 30 different sites—distributed along c. 400 km—and monitoring in two contiguous protected areas. Darwin’s fox detection rate was higher when forest cover was higher or when domestic dog (Canis familiaris) detection rate was lower. Given confirmed presence, the detection rate was higher for sites in Chiloé Island, than in the mainland’s Coastal Range. In mainland, we found evidence of dogs’ presence in most of the sites we detected Darwin’s foxes. In the protected areas monitored, Darwin’s foxes were found to use 12% and 15% of the area sampled in 2015 and 2016 respectively, although there was high uncertainty in the 2016 estimates due to low probability of detection. We did not detect Darwin’s foxes in forestry plantations. Our findings provide support for a continuous distribution along the mainland’s Coastal Range and Chiloé Island but we hypothesize—based on the major differences observed in detection rates between these areas—that local densities are lower in mainland than in Chiloé Island. Finally, Darwin’s fox appears to be sensitive to human disturbance and these disturbances, especially dogs, are ubiquitous within its newly discovered range.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Facultad de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Andrés Bello, República 440, Santiago, Chile

    Eduardo A. Silva-Rodríguez

  2. Instituto de Conservación, Biodiversidad y Territorio, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile

    Eduardo A. Silva-Rodríguez

  3. Reserva Costera Valdiviana, The Nature Conservancy, Los Helechos 635, Isla Teja, Valdivia, Chile

    Erwin Ovando & Danilo González

  4. Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Facultad de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Universidad Andrés Bello, República 440, Santiago, Chile

    Brayan Zambrano

  5. Gerencia de Áreas Silvestres Protegidas del Estado, Corporación Nacional Forestal, Paseo Bulnes 285, Santiago, Chile

    Maximiliano A. Sepúlveda & Gabriella L. Svensson

  6. Parque Nacional Alerce Costero, Departamento de Áreas Silvestres Protegidas, Corporación Nacional Forestal, Provincia de Valdivia, Los Castaños 100, Valdivia, Chile

    René Cárdenas & Patricio Contreras

  7. Centro Universitario Regional Este (CURE-Maldonado), Universidad de la República, Tacuarembó s/n of. 150, Maldonado, CP 20100, Uruguay

    Ariel A. Farías

  8. Centro de Ecología Aplicada y Sustentabilidad (CAPES), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Alameda 340, PO-Box 114-D, Santiago, CP 6513677, Chile

    Ariel A. Farías

  9. Centro de Investigación e Innovación para el Cambio Climático (CIICC), Universidad Santo Tomás, Santiago, Chile

    Ariel A. Farías

  10. Centro Universitario Regional Este (CURE-Maldonado), Universidad de la República, Tacuarembó s/n of. 150, Maldonado, CP 20100, Uruguay

    Ariel A. Farías

Authors
  1. Eduardo A. Silva-Rodríguez
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  2. Erwin Ovando
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  3. Danilo González
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  4. Brayan Zambrano
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  5. Maximiliano A. Sepúlveda
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  6. Gabriella L. Svensson
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  7. René Cárdenas
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  8. Patricio Contreras
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  9. Ariel A. Farías
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Correspondence to Eduardo A. Silva-Rodríguez or Ariel A. Farías.

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Silva-Rodríguez, E.A., Ovando, E., González, D. et al. Large-scale assessment of the presence of Darwin’s fox across its newly discovered range. Mamm Biol 92, 45–53 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2018.04.003

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