EFFECTS OF LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MOUNTAIN VIZCACHA (Lagidium viscacia) IN THE PATAGONIAN STEPPE By REBECCA SUSAN WALKER A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UMVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2001 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As this research spanned several years, several disciplines, and two continents, I have many, many people to thank. There are so many that I am quite sure I will inadvertently leave someone out, and I apologize for that. In Gainesville First of all, 1 would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Lyn Branch, for her untiring and inspiring mentoring, and her many, many hours of thoughtful reading and editing of numerous proposals and this dissertation. I also thank her for the financial support she provided in various forms during my Ph.D. program. Finally, I thank her for her incessant demand for rigorous science and clear writing. Dr. Brian Bowen got me started in molecular ecology and helped me to never lose faith that it would all work out. He also provided important input into several proposals and the data analysis. Dr. Bill Farmerie deciphered many molecular mysteries for me and helped make my dream of Lagidium microsatellite primers a reality. I thank him for his crucial guidance in developing the microsatellite primers, for the use of his lab, and for his eternal good humor. ii I thank the other members of my original committee, Dr. George Tanner, Dr. John Eisenberg, and Dr. Colin Chapman, for their guidance and input into various stages of the research over the years. Ginger Clark taught me how to use a pipettor, to pour a gel, to run all the machines, to use a Mac, to mix solutions, etc. I thank her for all of her teaching, for her patience, and for all of the help, advice, and good company she provided during my many months of lab work. I also thank her for storing my boxes while I was in the field. Anna Bass, Regina Shaw, Alicia Francisco, Dr. Dan Brazeau, Rachel Wacker, and Christina Romagosa also made the labwork much more pleasant with their help and companionship. Regina helped me with more of those molecular mysteries, and Alicia did many isolations, PCRs, and gels for me. Dr. David Moraga Amador of the ICBR Education Core very kindly shared equipment, space and supplies at some stages of the labwork. I also appreciate his comments and advice during the development of the primers. I thank Dr. Mel Sunquist for replacing John Eisenberg on my committee during the last semester, and I thank him and Fiona Sunquist for the many curry dinners over the years and for letting me stay in their cabin during the final stages of the dissertation. Many thanks go to Jay Harrison and Galen Jones of the IFAS Statistics department for answering my questions about statistics and SAS. Jay recommended the use of GLIMMIX for the analysis in Chapter 3. I thank Dr. Jim Nichols for advice on statistical analysis and for reviewing the appendix on the population size index. ' iii I would also like to thank the administrative and support staff of the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, especially Cynthia Sain, Mindy Edwards (former staff), Caprice McRae, and Monica Lindberg, who helped me in many ways over the years. I also thank Polly Falcon and to Delores Tillman, who helped me with all the details of the last semester. Of course, over all of my years off and on at the University of Florida I greatly benefited from my interactions with fellow students, both academically and personally. I made many good friends who influenced me in many subtle and not so subtle ways. There are so many that I couldn't begin to name all of them, and I offer my heartfelt thanks to all. I specifically mention only Becky Ditgen and Marcela Machicote, who provided crucial help and support when I had to be in Gainesville without my family to do labwork. Becky also helped me in many other ways, including explaining some geology terms and concepts to me. r i , The ICBR DNA Sequencing Core at the University of Florida did the sequencing for the development of the microsatellite primers. The BEECS Genetic Analysis Core and the Iowa State University DNA Sequencing Facility did the GENESCAN analyses of microsatellite alleles. Funding During my coursework for the Ph.D. and while doing the labwork in Gainesville I was funded by an IFAS research fellowship in 1995, teaching assistantships for Conservation Biology provided by the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation in fall 1996, 1997, and 1999, and the federal work-study program in spring and summer iv of 1997. In addition, I thank the African Safari Club for the scholarship they awarded me in 1997. Fieldwork was funded by grants from the Lincoln Park Zoo Scott Neotropic Fund, the American Society of Mammalogists, and Sigma Xi, The Research Society. I used a vehicle belonging to a Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) project in the field, and WCS provided some support in the final stages of the research. Lyn Branch underwrote the laboratory work in the early stages. The final year of laboratory analysis was ftinded by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement grant (DEB-9972717). In Patagonia I give many thanks to Gabriela Ackermaim, Veronica Pancotto, Judith Shachter Broide, Maria Beatriz Bongiomo, Gladys Galende, Obdulio Monsalvo, Emiliano Donadio, Sebastian DiMartino, and Mariana Aubone, who assisted me in the field in various parts of the study. I thank Alejandro del Valle, Martin Funes, and Obdulio Monsalvo of the Centro de Ecologfa Aplicada del Neuquen (CEAN) for helping with logistics and in so many other ways over the years. Lodging during part of the study was provided by CEAN. I thank Carlos Rambeaud for sharing his extensive knowledge of the region and people of the region and for permission to survey his family's ranch at Campo Grande. I thank the Guardafaunas of Junin de los Andes for the use of their trailer in 1996, and the Guardafaunas of San Martin de los Andes for the use of their GPS that same year. I greatly appreciate the assistance, companionship, and use of facilities at the school in Pilolil, provided by Miguel and Silvana Gomez. The study would not have been possible V without the skills of Aldo Parra and Marcelo Prieto in capturing mountain vizcachas at Pilolil. I thank the following individuals, families, ranch owners, administrators, capataces, and others for permission to carry out the research on their land, or for assistance in obtaining permission or access to the numerous field sites: Comunidad Mapuche de Malleo Comunidad Mapuche de Rucachoroi Comunidad Mapuche Namuncura Corfone Abra Ancha Corporacion Interestadual Pulmari Delegacion Regional Patagonia, Administracion de Parques Nacionales, especially Claudio Chehebar Familia Cordero Familia Criado, Valle Encantado Familia Creide, La Lipela Familia Fernandez Beschtedt (I especially thank them for the hot baths!) Familia Gonzalez, Valle Encantado Familia Modarelli Familia Prieto, PiloHl Familia Quinas G. Anz, Estancia Pilolil G. Bergese Gerardo Alinea, Estancia Catan Lil Guardafaunas of Alumine Javier Sanguinetti and the Guardaparques of Lanfn National Park Lorenzo Simpson Mariana Cordero of Estancia Santa Rosa Miguel Anz and the owners of Estancia Los Remolinos Owners and administrators of Estancia Los Ranchos Owners and administrators of Estancia Porvenir P. Larminat, Estancia Cerro de los Pinos Pacito Gonzalez, Estancia Nahuel Mapi Pedro Ochoa Roberto Iriarte, for Estancias Palitue, La Rinconada, and Quilachanquil S. Rambeaud, Estancia Rahue Sandro, at the campground in Alumine Santiago Rambeaud, Estancia Panqueco Sr. Van Ditmar, Valle Encantado V. Soleno, Estancia CoUon Co Victorino Rodriguez and Sra. Rosa, Pilolil Ward Lay and Boris Nunez, Estancia Alicura VI During the final stages of the research, Ana Prieto and Sebastian DiMartino helped me with many computer programs. Javier Ayessa and the Laboratorio de Teledeteccion de INTA Bariloche provided the digitized geology map through an agreement with CEAN for analysis of the distribution of wildlife species in the province of Neuquen. I also give many thanks to Adriana Belloti for sharing her knowledge of the geology of the region with me. Personal I offer a very special thanks to my daughter, Jimena Isabel Novaro, who made it all so much more difficult but so much more interesting. She pleasantly tolerated being dragged between continents and cliffs and thought we were on vacation during my fieldwork. Maria Elena Sepulveda, Graciela Ema, and Maria Beatriz Bongiomo helped me with Jimena while I was doing coursework, writing proposals, doing the fieldwork, and writing the dissertation. Knowing that Jimena was in good and loving hands made it possible for me to dedicate myself to my work and I am eternally grateful to the three of them. Maria Elena also helped with some of the mapping. My parents, R.D. and Juanita Walker, also took care of Jimena in the final stages of my writing of the NSF proposal and my dissertation, and during two of our intercontinental moves. They helped in many ways with our various moves. They also loaned vehicles and household supplies for our stay in Gainesville in 1999-2000. My brother, Ray Walker, let me use his home office to finish and submit the NSF proposal in 1998 and to print the dissertation in 2000. I also thank him for help with software and hardware on several occasions. vii Finally, I would like to thank with all my heart my husband, Andres Novaro. His unfailing belief in me and in this project sustained me through many periods of exhaustion and discouragement. He worked as an untiring field assistant, helped with Jimena, and handled all of the logistics of the project in the field.