I analyzed the habitat selection of two Alpine marmots Marmota marmota (Linnaeus, 1758) populations (A and B) re-introduced in the Friulian Dolomites Natural Park (Eastern Italian Alps) in 1977 and 1983 respectively. Population A showed a higher density of family units than the more recently introduced and still increasing population B. I mapped winter burrows and I conferred proportions of usage of habitat types with their availability by the Jacobs index. Population B positively selected fewer types of habitat than population A, and particularly selected those habitat types more strongly selected by A. Through stepwise discriminant function analysis and oneway ANOVA, I analyzed the characteristics of the winter burrow surroundings, by splitting up the two study areas into sample squares covering 1 ha each. The importance of the alpine meadows and pastures was subordinate to the presence of rocks, especially in the pastures. Comparing the results obtained separately for the two populations, the more recent and less dense population showed a more restrictive habitat and slope selection, in accordance with the ideal free distribution theory. In order to validate the habitat suitability model obtained by discriminant analysis I applied it to two other populations of Alpine marmots present in FDNP and in the Julian Prealps Natural Park.
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