Project Update: October 2008

This is the month when rural settlers in collaboration with us do the capture, shearing, and released of the guanaco. Before this begins we estimated the density of guanacos in the management zone and collected faecal samples. We collected 200 faecal samples and the density was 21 individuals km-2. In addition we measured the vertical and horizontal structure of the vegetation, we did 4 transects for each habitat type.

The xerophytic vegetation belongs to the Patagonian shrubby steppe, where the dominant species are Panicum urvilleum, Sporobulus rigens, together with Poa lanuginosa and Stipa speciosa. The shrub layer is dominated by the creosote bush Larrea nitida and in second place are L. cuneifolia and L. divaricata. In the management programme the rural settlers captured 100 individuals; each one is classified according to age, gender and reproductive state. In addition, during shearing we took blood samples, cardiac and respiratory pulse, faecal sample and rectal temperature.