Laura Fasola

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Researcher at CONICET-Fundación Bariloche

The grasslands and shrub areas of the Patagonian steppe are the most frequent habitat for the “Near Threatened” armadillo, known as pichi ( Zaedyus pichiy ). Dense exotic conifer plantations are replacing the steppe in Argentinean northern Patagonia. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of conifer afforestation on the occurrence and food availab...

Parasites are ubiquitous in wildlife populations and have a profound impact on population dynamics. Interest in parasites of wildlife has increased significantly in recent years, particularly in those with relevant conservation status. Patagonia is one of the wildest and remote areas of the world. The Wolffsohn’s viscacha lives in a small mountaino...

Effective long-term management of invasive non-native species (INNS) in South America is a pressing yet complex task. Critically, the environmental, historical, cultural, and economic idiosyncrasies of the region call for the inclusion of a plurality of views from those sectors of society receiving the negative and positive impacts of INNS. This is...

The Buenos Aires Lake Plateau, a unique semi-arid environment and priority area for waterbird conservation in Argentina, has recently shown reductions in lake sizes due to scarce rainfall. This study assessed the impact of contrasting hydrological conditions on the abiotic variables of lakes Chapu and Cervecero, as well as on the structure of plank...

Endemic to Patagonia, the White-throated Caracara (Phalcoboenus albogularis) is one of the least studied caracara species, with several aspects of its ecology, such as breeding biology and diet, largely unexplored. Using citizen science records and opportunistic observations, we obtained data on the breeding biology, nest sites, and diet of the spe...

La única población estable de huillines en agua dulce conocida de Argentina se encuentra en el Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. Se recorrieron 14 sitios lineales (50–600 m) costeros aguas abajo de la confluencia de los ríos Limay y Traful para evaluar la situación del huillín en el embalse Alicurá. Se detectó la especie en un sector que se encuentra b...

La provincia de Santa Cruz es la segunda en superficie de Argentina continental. Su tamaño, baja densidad poblacional y la inaccesibilidad de gran parte de su territorio generan que su fauna sea mayormente desconocida. Desde 2009 hasta 2021, en el marco del Proyecto Macá Tobiano/Programa Patagonia, hemos realizado monitoreos de aves casi ininterrum...

La Codorniz de California (Callipepla californica) fue introducida en Argentina en diferentes ocasiones desde la década de 1920’s hasta 1970’s. Hasta el presente, el límite sur de su distribución en Argentina se situaba en la provincia del Chubut. Aquí presentamos el primer registro de la Codorniz de California para la provincia de Santa Cruz. Este...

We analyze the movement decisions made by screaming hairy armadillos (Chaetophractus vellerosus) after release from capture by researchers in an agricultural field with patches of remnant Tala forest (Celtis tala) in the warm and the cold season. The armadillos prefer to hide in Tala forest if they are closer than 70 m to a forest patch, indicating...

Formulating effective management plans for addressing the impacts of invasive non-native species (INNS) requires the definition of clear priorities and tangible targets, and the recognition of the plurality of societal values assigned to these species. These tasks require a multi-disciplinary approach and the involvement of stakeholders. Here, we d...

Upland Goose Chloephaga picta, Ashy-headed Goose Chloephaga poliocephala and Ruddy-headed Goose Chloephaga rubidiceps are endemic goose-like threatened birds of southern South America. This work aimed to study how sheldgeese are distributed both temporally and spatially and characterize their habitat use in part of their breeding range in Southern...

Alloparental behavior includes a wide range of situations, from occasional fostering to adoption. It is usually the result of brood parasitism, brood adoption or brood mixing, but also due to nest switching. Interspecific alloparental behaviors are less widespread, but there are no key differences in mechanism of underlying behaviors. Some South Am...

Se registró por primera vez el comportamiento de homing en Chaetophractus villosus. Se capturaron 33 individuos de C. villosus y se liberaron a diferentes distancias en Península Valdés, Chubut, Argentina. Del total de individuos, el 30 % regresó al punto captura dentro de los 12 días desde la liberación. El tiempo de recaptura aumentó de manera no...

The similarity between parasites communities' decay with distance and its analysis may explain important ecological process such host dispersion. Patagonia is inhabited by two armadillo species, Chaetophractus villosus and Zaedyus pichiy. In this study we describe and analyze the variation on helminth fauna of these armadillos in Patagonia compared...

As in other parts of the globe, the American mink has invaded the southern cone of Latin America successfully. Nowadays it is one of the most widespread and feared invasive vertebrates in southern Argentina and Chile. Unfortunately, these are only 2 countries of a list of over 30 where it has invaded in Europe and Asia (Macdonald and Harrington 200...

Effective long-term management is needed to address the impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) that cannot be eradicated. We describe the fundamental characteristics of long-term management policies for IAS, diagnose a major shortcoming, and outline how to produce effective IAS management. Key international and transnational management policies co...

Effective long-term management is needed to address the impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) that cannot be eradicated. We describe the fundamental characteristics of long-term management policies for IAS, diagnose a major shortcoming, and outline how to produce effective IAS management. Key international and transnational management policies co...

Migratory sheldgeese (continental Upland Goose Chloephaga picta, Ashy-headed Goose C. poliocephala, and continental Ruddy-headed Goose C. rubidiceps) are endemic birds of southern South America. They are currently threatened by illegal hunting, overgrazing, and invasive predators. Because their breeding area is intensely grazed by sheep and cows, w...

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In...

Invasive Alien Species (IAS) threaten biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services, modify landscapes and impose costs to national economies. Management efforts are underway globally to reduce these impacts, but little attention has been paid to optimising the use of the scarce available resources when IAS are impossible to eradicate, and therefo...

Three migratory species of sheldgeese (Chloephaga spp.) make seasonal movements across a large portion of the Argentine territory. All three of these species have been affected by anthropogenic actions which have caused dramatic population drops, especially for the Ruddy-headed Goose (Chloephaga rubidiceps). Although telemetry techniques have rapid...

The large hairy armadillo (Chaetophractus villosus) was introduced to the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego almost 35 years ago. Previous studies described the armadillo’s distribution relative to heated oil pipelines. The present study updates this distribution, and evaluates associations with additional environmental variables to better explain the...

RESUMEN Presentamos el registro de un adulto y dos cachorros de puma en un nido de cauquén común, monitoreado con una trampa cámara en la provincia de Santa Cruz, República Argentina. Los felinos permanecieron en el nido 15 minutos, retiraron los huevos pero no los consumieron. Posiblemente, los huevos de aves formen parte de la dieta de este carní...

Armadillos are among the most common mammals in agroecosystems in Argentina. Their insectivorous/omnivorous food habits raise the question about their putative role as pest controllers. The aim of this study is to describe the prey items of five armadillo species and evaluate their possible role as natural pest controllers. The stomach contents of...

Since its rediscovery in 1998, two major threats have been mentioned for the enigmatic Austral Rail Rallus antarcticus : cattle management by burning grass and rushes and predation by American mink Neovison vison . Added to the lack of a protocol to monitor this secretive bird, ever-growing threats make it necessary to study its global situation in...

Knowledge of food habits of invasive species is necessary to predict invasion success and potential interactions in the invaded community. The Asiatic red-bellied squirrel Callosciurus erythraeus has been introduced in Asia, Europe and South America. We studied feeding habits of red-bellied squirrels in Argentina in two sites 600 km apart where wil...

ABSTRACT—The Upland Goose (Chloephaga picta) is a ground-nesting bird that has suffered a precipitous population decline in the last 60 years. We monitored Upland Goose nests with camera traps in Santa Cruz province, Argentina, to study nest disturbances that could reduce reproductive success. We studied female behavior following nest disturbance b...

Invasive American mink is a severe threat to endangered waterbird populations. In Europe and South America, control efforts have been increasing in the last decades. Mink has a proven acute impact on the Hooded Grebe, a critically endangered specialist of highland plateau lakes in Patagonia where a single mink attack can deplete up to 4% of the glo...

Understanding the demography of an invasive species is crucial to better guide managers seeking to slow the spread of the invader. Habitat differences can affect demographic rates, which may in turn impact the speed of the invasion, but this has been rarely addressed. We studied the demography of invasive North American beavers (Castor canadensis)...

In 2011, the invasive American mink Neovison vison became the most acute threat to the globally critically endangered Hooded Grebe Podiceps gallardoi (global population <800 individuals) when mink killed over 4 % of their global population. The Hooded Grebe is endemic to the Argentinean Austral Patagonia. In 2014, we established a control program i...

Summary The Ruddy-headed Goose Chloephaga rubidiceps has two separate and genetically distinct populations, one sedentary that inhabits the Malvinas/Falklands Islands and another migratory, which inhabits continental southern South America. New information suggests that these populations should be considered as different evolutionarily significant...

The critically endangered hooded grebe Podiceps gallardoi has suffered a population reduction of 80% in the last 25 years. Although climatic conditions are suggested to be important causes of this decline, invasive species are also having a large impact. Hooded grebes have the lowest recruitment rate within the Podicepodiformes, but this is usually...

Background American mink forage on land and in water, with aquatic prey often constituting a large proportion of their diet. Their long, thin body shape and relatively poor insulation make them vulnerable to heat loss, particularly in water, yet some individuals dive over 100 times a day. At the level of individual dives, previous research found n...

The American mink is a widespread invasive carnivore in Patagonia, and due to its foraging behavior that allows it to exploit a wide variety of prey, it is the exotic carnivore with the highest potential impact on the region's biodiversity. Available regional information on mink presence/absence, as well as abundance estimations, is scarce even tho...

Ecología Austral 24:173-182 (2014)The American mink is a widespread invasive carnivore in Patagonia, and due to its foraging behavior that allows it to exploit a wide variety of prey, it is the exotic carnivore with the highest potential impact on the region’s biodiversity. Available regional information on mink presence/absence, as well as abundan...

The introduction of the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) to Tierra del Fuego is a widely known example of a successful biological invasion. However, the origin and history of this introduction bears closer scrutiny. Using historical documentation we provide evidence that beaver introduction occurred as a single release event of 20 beavers...

A combination of infrared cameras and plasticine eggs were used to identify potential nest predators of Flightless Steamer-Ducks (Tachyeres pteneres) and Flying Steamer-Ducks (T. patachonicus) and to evaluate the relative efficacy of these methods for identifying predators. Cameras were set up at 31 artificial nests with plasticine eggs and at four...

Understanding processes and impacts of biological invasions is fundamental for ecology and management. Recent reviews summarized the mechanisms by which invasive species alter entire ecosystems,but quantitative assessments of these mechanisms are lacking for actual assemblages to determine their relative importance, frequency and patterns. We updat...

ABSTRACT.—We describe the nest-site characteristics and breeding habitat use of Kelp Geese (Chloephaga hybrida) and Flightless Steamer-Ducks (Tachyeres pteneres) along 137 km of coastline on the northern shore of the Beagle Channel, Argentina, and 87 km of island coastline. We examined the importance of vegetation cover, predation, and tourism on t...

Knowledge about interactions between endangered native southern river otters (Lontra provocax) and introduced American mink (Neovison vison) is essential for effective management of both species. We evaluated competition for spatial and trophic niches between otter and mink in overlapping and non-overlapping areas, comparing distribution, habitat p...

The American mink (Neovison vison) is a semi-aquatic, generalist carnivore released onto Tierra del Fuego (TDF) Island in the 1940s, subsequently spreading to adjacent islands in the archipelago with potential effects on native prey populations. Knowledge of this new predator's trophic ecology is essential to identify threats, plan control strategi...

Aquatic foraging is a fundamental component of the behavior of a number of small mammals, yet comprehensive observations of diving are often difficult to obtain under natural circumstances. Semiaquatic mammals, having evolved to exploit prey in both aquatic and terrestrial environments, are generally not as well adapted for diving (or for life in t...

a ciencia no es una máquina objetiva dirigida hacia la verdad, sino una actividad puramente humana. No sólo genera conocimiento a través de la búsqueda de respuestas a preguntas que surgen a veces de manera individual, sino que además, no está exenta de las presiones, esperanzas y prejuicios culturales. Incluso las condiciones sociopolíticas circun...

La Lupa Colección Fueguina de divulgación científica: es la revista de divulgación científica de circulación semestral del Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC-CONICET). La Lupa tiene el doble objetivo de ser un órgano de popularización de los resultados de la investigación científica y generar una interacción con la comunidad de la...

Following the establishment of American mink farms outside North America, the species has successfully invaded Europe and South America, and in some places, their presence demonstrably threatens native biodiversity. We surveyed for mink signs along the Andean Patagonian forest in Argentina from 38°52′ S to 54°52′ S, revealing that their range has n...

The Southern river otter or huillín Lontra provocax has been classified as ‘endangered’, with the loss of riparian forest identified as the main threat to its survival. We used new information on distribution from Argentina to define their status. There are no data on the huillin’s population structure and dynamics, and no estimate of its abundance...

American mink Mustela vison, originally bred in fur farms, have become established in areas occupied by native endangered Southern river otter Lontra provocax, in Patagonia. In accordance with European experience, this biological invasion in South America raises questions about the interaction between invasive mink and native otter, from the viewpo...

The Southern river otter or 'huillin', Lontra provocax, is an endangered species endemic of the Andean Patagonian region of Argentina and Chile. It feeds almost exclusively on the genera of macro-crustacea: Aegla and Sammastacus. The aim of this study was to analyse the role of food availability on the huillin's distribution using a scale-dependent...

The impact of alien American mink on the native fauna of oceanic islands has been demonstrated in a number of locations. In the sub-Antarctic Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve of southern Chile the species is currently expanding in an area where the native fauna evolved in the absence of terrestrial predators. To evaluate any emerging problems we therefo...

Lontra provocax is an endemic species from Patagonia that has been categorized as "endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. In this study, noninvasive molecular methods were used to investigate the genetic diversity and haplotype distribution of L. provocax in Argentinean Patagonia. We analyzed 150 scat samples collected f...

Use of hair tubes and hair characterization of the Red-Bellied Squirrel Callosciurus erythraeus. The Asiatic Red-Bellied Squirrel has been introduced into the Pampas Region, where a wild population has now been established and it is colonizing new areas. Hair tubes have been successfully used to assess the presence/absence of other species of squir...

Population expansion of an exotic mammal in Argentina: the Red-Bellied Squirrel Callosciurus erythraeus. Biological invasions are one of the major threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and they provoke economic losses to productive systems. A wild population of the Red-Bellied Squirrel Callosciurus erythraeus, native to South-east Asia...

Use of hair tubes and hair characterization of the Red-Bellied Squirrel Callosciurus erythraeus. The Asiatic Red-Bellied Squirrel has been introduced into the Pampas Region, where a wild population has now been established and it is colonizing new areas. Hair tubes have been successfully used to assess the presence/absence of other species of squir...