Tourism and human computers offer new tools to monitor Patagonia's top carnivore.

Monitoring wildlife populations to determine changing abundance is the basis for conservation strategies and interventions. Monitoring, however, is expensive, and we lack baseline data for countless species and landscapes around the globe. One solution is to utilize methods that leverage observations collected by everyday people. Humans are not only excellent sensors for diverse data, but possess a remarkable ability to process data and differentiate patterns with minimal training. Here, we explored the potential for people, including guides who work in tourism in southern Patagonia, to determine whether paired photographs of puma (Puma concolor puma) faces were the same individual, akin to a computer-led Siamese network analysis. Overall, participants performed well (average score of 92.2 %) and we detected no differences in local people versus those from the USA, or differences due to differential experience working with pumas. Based on these results, we built a historic capture-recapture dataset of individual pumas collected by local guides and report annual abundance for a portion of the Torres del Paine UNESCO Biosphere in southern Chile, an area lacking such data and of critical conservation for the species. Our results highlight the innate capabilities of human computers and their potential for contributing to wildlife surveys in novel ways to increase science capacity.

Microsatellite markers reveal strong genetic structure in the endemic Chilean dolphin.

Understanding genetic differentiation and speciation processes in marine species with high dispersal capabilities is challenging. The Chilean dolphin, Cephalorhynchus eutropia, is the only endemic cetacean of Chile and is found in two different coastal habitats: a northern habitat with exposed coastlines, bays and estuaries from Valparaíso (33°02'S) to Chiloé (42°00'S), and a southern habitat with highly fragmented inshore coastline, channels and fjords between Chiloé and Navarino Island (55°14'S). With the aim of evaluating the potential existence of conservation units for this species, we analyzed the genetic diversity and population structure of the Chilean dolphin along its entire range. We genotyped 21 dinucleotide microsatellites for 53 skin samples collected between 1998 and 2012 (swab: n = 8, biopsy: n = 38, entanglement n = 7). Bayesian clustering and spatial model analyses identified two genetically distinct populations corresponding to the northern and southern habitats. Genetic diversity levels were similar in the two populations (He: 0.42 v/s 0.45 for southern and northern populations, respectively), while effective size population was higher in the southern area (Ne: 101 v/s 39). Genetic differentiation between these two populations was high and significant (FST = 0.15 and RST = 0.19), indicating little or no current gene flow. Because of the absence of evident geographical barriers between the northern and southern populations, we propose that genetic differentiation may reflect ecological adaptation to the different habitat conditions and resource uses. Therefore, the two genetic populations of this endemic and Near Threatened species should be considered as different conservation units with independent management strategies.