Propuesta de trabajo de grado bajo la modalidad de investigación-innovación para optar por el título de Licenciada en Biología

Abstract

The armadillos are mammals belonging to the superorder Xenartha, of the 22 species reported worldwide 6 are in the Colombian territory and five around the Llanos Orientales, which are: Cabassous unicinctus, Dasypus pastasae, D. sabanicola, D. novemcinctus and Priodontes maximus. In relation to their diet, what is known is that they are specialized insectivores and feed exclusively on termites and ants, while other studies suggest that within their diets, they consume other invertebrates such as snails, caterpillars, earthworms, beetles or can also ingest fruit, small vertebrates such as lizards, amphibians and rodents or may consume carrion, roots, and fungi. On the other hand, as far as the areas where they live are included, temperate forests, tropical dry forests, dry and humid savannas, even scrublands, grasslands, and arable lands such as oil palm agroecosystems, where in recent years has evidenced its activity within these monocultures. This research aims to contribute to the knowledge about the availability of food for armadillos in three agroecosystems with oil palm located in two municipalities of the department of Meta and one more in the department of Vichada. Direct and indirect sampling was carried out in palm and forest areas during the rainy season between April-May and August-September 2022. A total of 22,286 individuals were collected, which are grouped in 38 orders, 159 families and 389 morphospecies. Of the three oil palm agroecosystems the place that presented the greatest abundance was Hacienda La Cabaña in Cumaral, contributing 9,138 (41%) individuals, the second was Poligrow in Mapiripán with 7,969 (35.75%) and Riopaila located in Santa Rosalía obtained 5,179 (23.23%) individuals. The family Formicidae was the most abundant with a total of 7,181 (32.22%) individuals, second, collemboli with 5,024 (22.54%); termites with 4,048 (18.16%) individuals occupy the third place, followed by Araneae with 1,391 (6.24%) and the fifth most abundant group was Coleoptera contributing to the research a total of 934 (4.19%) individuals. The similarities between the sites do not exceed 35% and 46% for palm and forest areas respectively, so that in general the agro-ecosystem areas present differences in terms of diversity. Therefore, the availability of food for the armadillos of the three agroecosystems of oil palm of Cumaral, Mapiripán and Santa Rosalía will be mainly ants, termites, collemboli, spiders and beetles, however the riches of them can vary, due to differences between areas.