Study of an alpine marmot (Marmota marmota) population in the valley of Aisa (Aragon, Spain) focused on its habitat and its social impact. Izoutchenie mestoobitani? i sotsial’nykh vzaimode?stvi? v popoulyatsii alpiïskogo sourka (Marmota marmota) v doline A?sy (Aragon, Ispaniya). [Étude d’une population de marmotte alpine (Marmota marmota) de la vall?e d’Aisa (Aragon, Espagne)].

Résumé

Within the framework of the integrated wildlife management, we wanted to know what could be the ecological affinities of the alpine marmot and its social impact after 50 years of colonisation in the Pyrenees (Couturier, 1955). ln the Aisa Valley, marmots occupy the sub-alpine and the alpine level widely maintained open thanks to the pasture activities. We postulated that the interactions man-animal will occur and thus, to prevent exactions, the analysis of the perception of the marmot by the local people is primordial. Accordingly, we needed to emphasize the different factors of settlement in this valley by using tools of geography as remote sensing and GIS (Geographic Information System) to be able to predict the areas of conflict with human activities as it occurs in the Alps. The localization of the main burrow has been analysed in relation with the ecological factors usually cited in the literature (Rabeil et al., 2002; Frigerio et al., 1996). ln addition of the GIS treatments, statistic tests (Chi2 test with Bonferroni correction) have been used to highlight the explainable factors of distribution and to establish a typology of the habitat selected. Finally, interviews were carried out among different categories of inhabitants of the valley to evaluate the social impact of the rodent. In conclusion, by having taken into account different kind of data (ecological and social) we were able to establish the basis of a sustainable management of space (Blanco & Cortès, 2002).