Modern raptor pellets as tools for generation of paleoenvironmental models in Mendoza Province, Argentina EGAGRÓPILAS ACTUALES DE AVES RAPACES COMO HERRAMIENTA PARA LA GENERACIÓN DE MODELOS PALEOAMBIENTALES EN LA PROVINCIA DE MENDOZA, ARGENTINA

LÓPEZ, JOSÉ MANUEL; AGUILAR, JUAN PABLO; FERNÁNDEZ, FERNANDO J.

MASTOZOOLOGí­A NEOTROPICAL

UNIDAD DE ZOOLOGÍA Y ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL, INSTITUTO ARGENTINO DE INVESTIGACIÓN DE LAS ZONAS ARIDAS, CRICYT, CONICET

Lugar: Mendoza; Año: 2021 vol. 28

0327-9383

Systematic knowledge about modern small mammal communities is necessary to interpret paleoenvironmental variations in the Late Quaternary. In this work, implications and information of modern small-mammal assemblages derived from raptor pellets from Mendoza province are reviewed and discussed as current taxonomic parameter. In this sense, all modern (n=31) and archaeological samples (n=40) were studied using familiar (multivariate and diversity analyses) and novel (Taxonomic Habitat Index [THI] and Geographic Information Systems) tools for the province. In addition to the loss of small mammal species in the present from possible extinctions (e.g., Holochilus lagigliai) and regional extirpations (e.g., Cavia aperea, Lestodelphys halli, Octomys mimax, Reithrodon auritus), differences between past and present communities from northern and southern Mendoza also were detected. Thus for example, through the application of THI a slightly higher proportion of species associated with open areas of low vegetation coverage, was observed in modern assemblages than in those of the late Holocene. We identified areas lacking modern raptor pellet samples as well as other areas with inadequate information due to sample sizes.