Late Holocene stability and recent changes in small mammal communities in north-central Andean forests of Patagonia

ANDRADE, ANALÍA; TETA, PABLO; FERNÁNDEZ, MERCEDES GRISEL; FERNÁNDEZ, PABLO MARCELO

HOLOCENE (SEVENOAKS)

SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD

Lugar: London; Año: 2023

0959-6836

Past and current climatic and environmental changes have contributed to configure actual species distributions and abundances. Knowing their evolution over time allows discrimination between natural and anthropogenic causes in current faunal communities. We evaluate the changes in small mammal composition from the north-central Patagonian Andean forests since the Late Holocene to recent times and their relationship with the environmental modifications driven by human activities. A bone sequence from Población Anticura archaeological site (lower Manso River valley, Río Negro province, Argentina) was studied, which encompasses a time span from the early Late Holocene (3350±100-2270±80-years BP) to final Late Holocene (1420±70- 530±50 years BP) and Historical Times (480±70-280±40-years BP). The species composition indicates that forest environment established in the area from at least the Late Holocene (dominance of Loxodontomysmicropus, with subordinate frequencies of Abrothrix olivacea, A. hirta, Geoxus valdivianus, Irenomys tarsalis, and Paynomys macronyx), with patches of (or near to) open environments (presence of Reithrodon auritus and cavids). It is remarkable the presence of cavids, whichincreased their abundance in the sequence towards historical times but disappeared nowadays. The low frequencies (