ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS OF THE GIS: SAMPLE DESIGN FOR PROCYON CANCRIVORUS IN THE PRE-DELTA NATIONAL PARK (ENTRE RIOS, ARGENTINA)

Abstract

The mayuato (Procyon cancrivorus) is a mammal whose distribution goes from South Central America to Uruguay. Registers of its activity have shown it has a tendency to make long displacements within an area. Generally, they inhabit zones near water bodies, such as swamps, lagoons and ocean shores, and have a preference for forests. The objective of this work is to propose a sample design for P. cancrivorus in the Pre-Delta National Park (PDNP) based on space information and GIS use. To this end, a GIS was built using thematic layers in raster and vector format, available in web sites of official organisms, while others were generated. Data from within PDNP limits, high-resolution images from Google Earth (Open layer), were integrated among. Quantum GIS software (2.8.1-1 Version) of free distribution was used, just like spatial analyses and layer edition techniques. As a result, spatial new information was generated, from which, considering the habitat use of P. cancrivorus, a sampling design with a series of transects and interesting sites to locate track traps in the PDNP was proposed. In this way, GIS techniques were applied for the optimization of P. cancrivorus study, linking information on this mammal’s ecology with space data referring to the characteristics of the environment.