Alejandro Eduardo Jorge Valenzuela

Summary: The elusive southern river otter (Lontra provocax; huillín in Spanish) is critically endangered in the Argentine portion of Tierra del Fuego, and low social awareness may be one of the major threats to its conservation. Our survey of local residents’ knowledge and valuation of the huillín showed that only 14% recognized photographs of the species, almost half did not know that it is endangered and most erroneously thought it was an introduced species. Greater knowledge about the huillín was related to higher respondent education levels. Younger and more knowledgeable residents valued the species more for ecological and relational reasons; its instrumental value was considered least important. More communication should be targeted at older people and groups not directly interacting with nature via informal education methods, including combining positive messages about the huillín and other native species with ongoing outreach efforts warning about biological invasions. Understanding perceptions and valuations of biodiversity can make conservation efforts more effective and inclusive.

Even regions of the planet widely considered to be “remote” or “pristine” like Patagonia are actually dynamic social-ecological systems with interrelated local-international connections of discourses, practices, and institutions. Yet, their study and management often do not consider this complexity. In Argentine Patagonia’s iconic landscapes, protected areas (PAs) represent a major human-nature relationship, and PA creation has been motivated by objectives ranging from geopolitical interests to biodiversityconservation. In this chapter, we employed the social imaginary framework to conduct an historical analysis of local, national, and international influences regarding the way nature and tourism are conceived and managed in national PAs. We evaluated the discourses (ideals, values, beliefs) and institutions (norms, rules, structures, stakeholders) involved in creating these PAs in Argentine Patagonia. The national PA system was legally formed in the 1930s, but initial efforts reach back as far as the early 1900s. We found that while the globalization of Patagonian conservation-based development has consolidated since the 1980s, local-international relationships extended over more than a century to co-produce these social-ecological systems.

The American mink (Neovison vison) has been introduced for fur farming into several countries around the world. In southern South America, although invasive populations have established in Argentina and Chile, no feral minks have been recorded in the Pampas Biome to date. We report a potentially new biological invasion in Uruguay, presenting observations, pictures and a museum specimen of feral minks in the locality Melilla, Montevideo Department, which probably escaped or were released from a local fur farm. We obtained 35 mink records between 2010 and 2020, mostly close to the fur farm, within a 2.5 km radius. Our report provides the northernmost mink records in South America, being the first in the Pampas Biome. American mink is a feared invader in most of the sites where it has been introduced, and therefore these new records are important mainly to plan and apply management interventions.

La introducción de especies exóticas puede afectar negativamente a las especies nativas; por ejemplo, el perro doméstico (Canis lupus familiaris) puede aumentar su riesgo de depredación. Evaluamos el efecto de la presencia de perros y humanos sobre el comportamiento de forrajeo y uso de hábitat del fara, Didelphis pernigra, en un área exurbana en los Andes colombianos. Usamos la técnica de densidades de abandono (DDA), la cantidad de alimento dejada por un forrajeador después de explotar un parche en el que experimenta ganancias decrecientes, y que informa sobre los costos de forrajeo experimentados por un individuo, incluyendo el riesgo percibido de depredación. Medimos las DDA en experimentos en presencia de perro o humano en un área de regeneración natural de bosque andino y en una plantación exótica de Eucaliptus globulus cerca al río Bogotá en Cajicá, Colombia. Los faras utilizaron más el área de regeneración que la plantación; la plantación fue muy poco utilizada. La presencia humana redujo el forrajeo del fara en la regeneración. No se encontró efecto del perro sobre el forrajeo de los faras. Además, el forrajeo también fue afectado por la iluminación de la luna, pero su efecto dependió del periodo de la noche. Este marsupial nativo seleccionó los sitios de forrajeo dependiendo de su exposición a posibles depredadores. El fara no parece reconocer al perro como una amenaza, probablemente incrementando su vulnerabilidad al ataque de estos carnívoros.

Environmental scientists and managers increasingly recognize that socio-cultural evaluations expand the understanding of human–nature relationships. Here, user groups’ perceptions of the benefits from and threats to nature were analysed in Tierra del Fuego National Park, Argentina. We hypothesized that the different relationships of users to this place would lead to significantly different valuations among local Ushuaia residents (n = 122), Argentine nationals (n = 147) and international tourists (n = 294). All users perceived a broad spectrum of benefits. The three groups assessed intrinsic and relational values more highly than instrumental benefits, and significant differences included a higher mean valuation of benefits by Argentine visitors. Overall, threats were less perceived than benefits, and significant differences included a higher mean threat assessment by Ushuaia residents. To explain these relationships, we found that mean valuations of benefits and threats were weakly related to increased biodiversity knowledge for residents and international tourists, but not for Argentine visitors. These findings can orient environmental management in Patagonia and elsewhere by identifying areas where information can improve user experiences and by contributing a more pluralistic understanding of nature from multiple stakeholders.