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Abstract

While the presence of cattle in forests is quite common, how they use this habitat is often overlooked. When this is examined, most studies focus on measurements of the vegetation variables influencing habitat selection. This current report provides a suitable model to study habitat use by livestock in forested areas by means of GPS tracking on selected individuals. The model was applied to data from semi-feral cattle in order to obtain the first description of their habitat use in southern forests. Furthermore, the model accounted for individual variability, and hinted at population patterns of habitat use. The positions of 15 individual cows with GPS collars were recorded covering twelve months in a Nothofagus (southern beech) forest in Patagonia (Argentina). By projecting these GPS location data into a geographical information system (GIS), a resource selection probability function (RSPF) that considers topographic and vegetation variables was built. The habitat selection by semi-feral cattle in southern beech forests showed a large interindividual variability, but also some similar characteristics which enable a proper description of habitat-use patterns. It was found that habitat selection by cattle was mainly affected by topographic variables such as altitude and the combination of slope and aspect. In both cases the variables were selected below average relative to availability, suggesting a preferred habitat range. Livestock also tended to avoid areas of closed shrublands and showed a slight preference for meadows. Cattle give significant importance to topographic variables to define their habitat selection in this type of mountainous forests. This might be because of an ecological adaptation to the major features of these types of forests due to ferality. Furthermore, these results are the basis for management applications such as predictive maps of use by semi-feral livestock in forested landscapes.