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Diversity and biogeographical patterns in the diet of the culpeo in South America

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Lozano, Jorge, Guntiñas, Marta, Cisneros, Rodrigo, Llorente, Esther, Duro, Adrián, Malo, Aurelio F.·2024·Ecology and Evolution
DOI 10.1002/ece3.70176PMC PMC11319844
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Abstract

Here we describe the dietary patterns of the culpeo or Andean fox (Lycalopex culpaeus) on a biogeographical scale. We also analyse the influence of exotic lagomorphs on its diet and explore differences between culpeo subspecies. We selected 17 mutually comparable diet studies, which include 19 independent diet assessments. Then, we extracted and standardized the values of the different diet components from these studies and calculated the relative frequency of occurrence of the 10 main trophic groups that we found. Further, we calculated the Shannon‐Wiener H′ trophic diversity index. The results showed that small mammals (41%), lagomorphs (21%), invertebrates (12.4%) and large herbivores (7.3%) were the most consumed groups. A factorial analysis of all trophic groups rendered four orthogonal factors that were used as response variables in relation to a set of environmental predictors. Altitude correlated with most factors (i.e. trophic groups). Exotic lagomorphs were consumed in lowlands, in higher latitudes and in regions showing high values of the human footprint index, enriching in those areas the culpeo's trophic spectrum. There were no differences in diet between the two main culpeo subspecies analysed, L.c. culpaeus and L.c. andinus. Finally, the best explanatory models (general linear model) of trophic diversity selected, using Akaike's information criterion, showed that the most diverse diets were those composed of large herbivores, edentates, carnivorous species, birds and herptiles (i.e. reptiles and frogs). Trophic diversity was low in rainy areas where big rodents dominated the diet. Neither latitude nor altitude seemed to have an effect on the trophic diversity of the culpeos, as they were not retained by the final models.

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  • This information expands ecological data about northern populations which is limited compared to southern populations.

    “This information expands ecological data about northern populations which is limited compared to southern populations (Lozano et al. 2024).”

    From The Andean fox Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) in southwestern Colombia: diet and anatomical description (2026) · cites this paper as Lozano et al. 2024

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says culpeo ecology is poorly known in some regions and calls for more studies of two subspecies. The Introduction (page unavailable) also calls for deeper ecological knowledge in Colombia and Ecuador. Neither passage explicitly compares the amount of ecological data for northern and southern populations; the claim that the citing authors’ information expands that data is their own framing. (LLM, conf=0.78)

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  • Lozano et al. (2024) suggested that bird consumption decreases with increasing altitude.

    “Lozano et al. (2024) suggested that bird consumption decreases with increasing altitude, which may explain their absence in our results.”

    From The Andean fox Lycalopex culpaeus (Molina, 1782) in southwestern Colombia: diet and anatomical description (2026) · cites this paper as Lozano et al. 2024

    The Discussion identifies which prey groups are consumed more at high and low altitudes, but does not identify birds among them. In the Results, Tables 1–2 link birds to factor 3, whose correlation with altitude is not marked significant; the paper does not suggest that bird consumption decreases as altitude increases. Searched for a direct bird–altitude finding. (LLM, conf=0.74)

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Authors
Lozano, J., Guntiñas, M., Cisneros, R., Llorente, E., Duro, A., & Malo, A. F.
Affiliations
  • Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES)
  • Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (ES)
  • Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (EC)
  • Universidad de Alcalá (ES)
Corresponding author
Lozano, Jorge
ORCID
Venue
Ecology and Evolution
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2024-08
Volume
14
Issue
8
Pages
e70176-e70176
ISSN
2045-7758 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1002/ece3.70176
PMC
PMC11319844
OpenAlex
W4401550375
Cited by
2
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1
FWCI
0.55
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Ecology and Evolution (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • DRYAD (public-domain)
Funders
Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecological Modeling › Species Distribution and Climate Change
Keywords
Lycalopex culpaeus, Andean fox, diet, trophic diversity, biogeography, small mammals, altitude, human footprint, subspecies, trophic guilds, South America

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