Nicolas Galvez

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile | UC · Centro de Desarrollo Local (CEDEL) / Campus Villarrica

Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are key threats to the long‐term persistence of carnivores, which are also susceptible to direct persecution by people. Integrating natural and social science methods to examine how habitat configuration/quality and human–predator relations may interact in space and time to effect carnivore populations wi...

We provide school teachers with the basics to carry out camera trapping proyects in schools. Entregamos las bases para que profesor@s de escuelas puedan llevar a cabo proyectos de investigación escolar mediante fototrampeo

Carnivores face important anthropogenic threats in agricultural areas from habitat loss and fragmentation, disturbance by domestic free-roaming dogs and cats, and direct hunting by humans. Anthropogenic disturbances are shifting the activity patterns of wild animals, likely modifying species interactions. We estimated changes in the activity patter...

Land use intensification, by which habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and increased land ownership subdivision occurs, represents one of the largest threats to biodiversity. The extent to which land use intensification affects the presence of native mesocarnivores is largely unexplored, with great implications for all working landscapes where agri...

Predators inhabiting human-dominated landscapes are vulnerable to various anthropogenic actions, including people killing them. We assess potential drivers of predator killing in an agricultural landscape in southern Chile, and discuss the implications for policies and interventions to promote coexistence. We evaluate five different types of motiva...

A total of nine small wild felid species can be found in a diversity of habitats in South America. Hierarchical models (HM) can be used to estimate key population aspects such as their distribution, abundance, density, and the influence of environmental conditions. The HM framework can accommodate errors introduced during the observation process, s...

Predators are known to carry prey in their mouth for many purposes, including providing for dependent young or caching. Studying predator diet through the use of remote camera traps has seldom been explored, aside from natural history observations. We provide photographic evidence of prey carrying behavior of the elusive güiñas (Leopardus guigna) i...

In May 2022, the First Small Wild Cat Working Groups Meeting of the Neotropics was sheld in Piura, Peru. In this meeting, seven Working Group WG leaders presented their threat mitigation activities on behalf of the conservation of 10 species of small wildcats distributed in Latin America. Because threats are similar for all small cats co-occurring...

Coexistence means existing together at the same time or space, and it is often used to promote tolerance of humans to wild animals. Here, we propose that coexistence may be needed to promote the sustainable management of riparian ecosystems. For instance, while riparian ecosystems can sustain biodiversity and help secure forest and water resources...

The Chilean Mediterranean ecosystem is threatened by anthropogenic pressures, such as habitat loss by intensive agriculture and urban sprawl. Abandoned dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and cats (Felis silvestris catus) pose conservation challenges for Chilean wildlife including the pampas cat (Leopardus colocolo) and the güiña (Leopardus guigna). We u...

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought an unusual decrease in human activity associated with partial and total lockdowns. Simultaneously, a series of wildlife sightings—mainly in urban areas—have been brought to public attention and often attributed to lockdown measures. Here we report on a series of wild carnivore records, including threatened...

The interconnected challenges of building resilience and generating sustainable forestry practices demand a holistic appreciation of social-ecological systems and requires us to step beyond disciplines to gain a broader understanding of the world. The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (QS Standard ranked #1st in Latin America) offers an acade...

This research highlights the importance of bamboo understory for the forest-dwelling animals in the southern cone of South America. We give empirical examples of different uses of bamboo by animals (i.e. feeding, breeding, and refugie). We aim to improve the forest management, contribute to nature conservation, and show another piece of the forest...

Plan Nacional de Conservación de la Güiña

Capsule: Many protected forests at high elevations show higher endemic biodiversity than unprotected habitats at low elevations. In seasonal ecosystems, however, harsh environmental conditions during winter may force individuals to move from protected forests to unprotected degraded forests in lowlands. Aims: To examine how forest types and seasons...

Camera-traps are increasingly used to survey threatened mammal species and are an important tool for estimating habitat occupancy. To date, cost-efficient occupancy survey effort allocation studies have focused on trade-offs between number of sample units (SUs) and sampling occasions, with simplistic accounts of associated costs which do not reflec...

This extension publication was printed in 2013 (FPA project 9-I-009-12, Chilean Ministry of Environment). Illustration: Jorge Ruiz, Graphic design: Leyla Musleh.

Habitat loss and fragmentation are major drivers of biodiversity loss. A key question, particularly relevant to carnivore conservation, is to which extent species are able to survive in human-modified landscapes. Currently, conservationists are concerned about the impact habitat fragmentation may have on the long-term persistence of the forest-dwel...

Knowledge about the puma Puma concolor in the Mediterranean Andes of South America is scarce, with little information available about its distribution and ecology. The species has been hunted in the region for centuries and seems to be relegated to remote areas, where it still comes into conflict with rural communities. Camera-trap surveys have bee...

Here we provide the first analysis of activity patterns exhibited by spotted and melanistic colour morphs of the vulnerable guiña Leopardus guigna, in a forest landscape of southern Chile. Camera traps showed guiñas were mainly active at night (64% of photos). Melanistic guiñas were more nocturnal (82% of photos) than the more common spotted cats (...

Relative to Neotropical cats and felids in general, the tiny Guiña has a restricted extent of occurrence (300,000 km²). Most of the species area of occupancy is suffering from increasing landscape fragmentation due to logging, habitat conversion to pine plantations, agricultural and livestock activities. An annual forest loss rate of 4.5% per year...

Background The Chilean temperate rainforest has been subjected to dramatic fragmentation for agriculture and forestry exploitation. Carnivore species are particularly affected by fragmentation and the resulting resource use conflicts with humans. This study aimed at understanding values and human-animal relationships with negatively perceived threa...

Habitat loss and fragmentation are affecting populations of forest dwelling mammalian carnivores worldwide. In southern Chile, a biodiversity hotspot,anthropogenic activities have resulted in high loss of native forest cover. The guiña, or kodkod cat, Leopardus guigna is a small forest-dwelling felid with a narrow range in the temperate forest of s...

We studied how human induced structural changes in forests affect stand use of the Rufous-legged Owl (forest-specialist) and the Austral Pygmy Owl (forest-facultative), in a gradient from lowland disrupted forests to protected Andean forests in Chile. We also tested if the calls of one species influenced the calling behaviour of the other. We detec...

Human impact such as forest fragmentation and degradation may have strong effects on native and exotic plant communities. In addition, these human-caused disturbances occur mostly in lowlands producing greater fragmentation and degradation there than in higher elevations. Plant invasion should be greater in more fragmented and degraded forests and...

Human impact such as forest fragmentation and degradation may have strong effects on native and exotic plant communities. In addition, these human-caused disturbances occur mostly in lowlands producing greater fragmentation and degradation there than in higher elevations. Plant invasion should be greater in more fragmented and degraded forests and...

Echolocation is characteristic of bats of the suborder Microchiroptera. Though recent studies of echolocation calis in Latin America have generated significant advances in knowledge about distribution, habitat use and ecology of bats, the recording and analysis of bat calis is barely known in Chile. As a first step in studies on the ecology of the...

ABSTRACT. Avifauna of Araucaria araucana temperate forests of southern Chile: Studies on the avian assemblage that inhabits the Araucaria araucana forests are scarce. As a result, the seasonal changes of the assemblage, the effects of snow cover on bird diversity during winter, and the importance of forest structural components for birds are barely...

Studies on the avian assemblage that inhabits the Araucaria araucana forests are scarce. As a result, the seasonal changes of the assemblage, the effects of snow cover on bird diversity during winter, and the importance of forest structural components for birds are barely known. Between 2008 and 2009, we undertook studies of the bird assemblage in...

Comprender la dinámica de los paisajes es fundamental para los planes de conservación de biodiversidad y ordenación territorial. Se realizó un estudio de cambio del paisaje (4001 ha) en la pre-cordillera de la Araucanía, Chile. Se elaboraron dos mapas de uso/cobertura del suelo a partir de fotografías aéreas de 1983 y 2007. Se registró cambios en c...

Echolocation is characteristic of bats of the suborder Microchiroptera. Though recent studies of echolocation calls in Latin America have generated significant advances in knowledge about distribution, habitat use and ecology of bats, the recording and analysis of bat calls is barely known in Chile. As a first step in studies on the ecology of the...

La ecolocación es característica de murciélagos del suborden Microquiróptera. Su estudio ha generado significativos avances en distribución, uso de hábitat y ecología de murciélagos de Latinoamérica. El registro y análisis de las llamadas de las especies de Chile aún es incipiente. Se realizaron grabaciones de ultrasonido en diciembre 2008 y abril...

Echolocation is typical of microchiropteran bats and the detection of ultrasound calls has led to important advances in our knowledge about their distribution and habitat use. To date, monitoring of echolocation calls has been used most commonly for vespertilionids in different ecosystems. This has not been the case in Chile, where studies based on...

La fragmentación de bosques es una creciente amenaza para la conservación de su biodiversidad ya que genera cambios microambientales por efecto borde y aislamiento de especies. El tamaño de fragmento ha sido documentado como el factor más crítico determinante de cambios microambientales y biodiversidad. En este estudio se evalúa el efecto del tamañ...

Los datos de anillamiento proveen información esencial para responder a múltiples preguntas sobre poblaciones de aves, y son fundamentales en el estudio de ensambles en ambientes sujetos a altas tasas de perturbación. La transformación de los bosques en el sur de Chile ha sido mayor en zonas del valle (<700 m.s.n.m) y, por el contrario, su protecci...

El concón y el chuncho son dos búhos endémicos de Chile y Argentina. Las poblaciones de concón se encontrarían en declinación debido a la pérdida de bosques primarios. Contrariamente, el chuncho parece ser una especie tolerante a modificaciones de hábitat. Aquí, documentamos los registros de un estudio que tiene como objetivo determinar diferencias...