The mara is a large endemic rodent, which presents a marked decline in its populations, mainly because of habitat loss, hunting, and overgrazing. The Ischigualasto Provincial Park is a hyper-arid protected area at the Monte Desert of Argentina with an overall low plant cover. Our objective was to determine the influence of environmental variables and tourist activities on mara’s habitat use. We used different biological levels to explain it, from plant community to floristic composition, in order to know at which level we can better detect the effects of tourist activities. We registered fresh feces and habitat variables along 80 transects in two communities, near and far away from the tourist circuit. To evaluate habitat use, we fitted models at different biological levels: plant community, plant strata, plant biological forms, and floristic composition. At the community and plant strata levels, we could not detect any tourism effects on habitat use. However, we detected effects of tourist activities on mara’s habitat use at the plant strata and floristic composition levels. Maras also selected areas with a low proportion of both bare soil and pebbles cover. We found complex interactions between abiotic, biotic variables and tourism, studying mara’s places near tourism activities, probably because they perceive those places as predator-safe areas.

中文翻译：

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旅游对世界遗产地受威胁大型啮齿动物栖息地利用的影响

马拉是一种大型地方性啮齿动物，其种群数量显着下降，主要是由于栖息地丧失、狩猎和过度放牧。Ischigualasto 省立公园是阿根廷蒙特沙漠的一个极度干旱的保护区，植物覆盖率总体较低。我们的目标是确定环境变量和旅游活动对玛拉栖息地利用的影响。从植物群落到植物区系组成，我们用不同的生物学层面来解释它，以了解在哪个层面上我们可以更好地检测旅游活动的影响。我们在靠近和远离旅游线路的两个社区的 80 个横断面上记录了新鲜粪便和栖息地变量。为了评估栖息地的使用，我们在不同的生物水平上拟合模型：植物群落、植物地层、植物生物形态、和植物区系组成。在群落和植物层级，我们无法检测到任何旅游对栖息地利用的影响。然而，我们在植物地层和植物区系组成水平上检测到旅游活动对玛拉栖息地利用的影响。Maras 还选择了裸露土壤和鹅卵石覆盖率低的地区。我们发现了非生物、生物变量和旅游业之间复杂的相互作用，研究了玛拉靠近旅游活动的地方，可能是因为他们认为这些地方是捕食者安全的区域。