GAP ANALYSIS FOR THE ANDEAN DEER 
(HIPPOCAMELUS ANTISENSIS) IN ARGENTINA

Nicolás FERREIRA y Priscilla MINOTTI
Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad CAECE, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Andean Deer or Taruka (Hippocamelus antisensis d'Orbigny, 1834) is a Southamerican threatened cervidae, inhabiting from Ecuador throughout the Andes in Bolivia, Peru, north of Chile and NW of Argentina. Due to hunting, destruction and occupation of its habitat, its populations have been greatly reduced. Listed in the Apendix I of CITES, considered "In Danger" for the Red Data Book, declared National Monument by UNESCO in 1996 and the IUCN says that there is inadequate available data. The main objective of this work is to assess the degree of protection for this species given by the geographical coverage of our protected areas system. We are using the Gap Analysis approach developed by Scott et al. (1993). Gap analysis compares the distribution of a species, or other particular component of the biota, with the distribution of protected areas. These comparisons allow to estimate the percentage of conserved range for a certain species by checking out its presence in protected units. The method considers the habitat distribution as a first substitute for extensive observation of the species. A geographic database is being built based on multiple information sources. Known distributions include locations of published field observations and range maps. Potential or modeled distributions take into account habitat requirements based on topography (elevation, slope and exposure), diet components (vegetation cover and composition), and seasonal climatic variation. Differente remote sensing sources are being used together with a digital elevation model to detect and map the distribution of highland grass cover, taruka´s main habitat type, on a local scale. For a regional scale, geocoded mosaics of Landsat quick-looks are being used to interpret modeled distributions with their land use context. Results obtained from this analysis are presented, highlighting differences between published and potential distributions for the Andean deer in comparison with the location of known protected areas.