IADIZA   20886
INSTITUTO ARGENTINO DE INVESTIGACIONES DE LAS ZONAS ARIDAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
capítulos de libros
Título:
The Exotic Mammals of Argentina.
Autor/es:
OJEDA, RICARDO; NOVILLO, AGUSTINA; CUEVAS, MARÍA FERNANDA
Libro:
Atlas of Biodiversity Risk. Settele J, Penev L, Georgiev T, Grabaum R, Grobelnik V, Hammen V, Klotz S, Kotarac M, Kühn I (Eds) 2009
Editorial:
Pensoft Publishers
Referencias:
Lugar: Sofia-Moscow; Año: 2010; p. 154 - 155
Resumen:
  Biological invasions, climate change, habitat fragmentation and wildlife commercialization are among the leading threats to global biodiversity. On the other hand, species invasions are like natural experiments that offer opportunities for research on several ecological and evolutionary aspects. The exotic mammals of South America represent about 20% of world mammal introductions. The aim of this presentation is to provide an overview of the mammal invaders of Argentina, their attributes as invasive species and potential role as model organisms for ecological understanding. Nineteen introduced mammal species (excluding domestics) are present in southern South America.  Among these, 18 species (the majority of them natural from Eurasia), represent 5% of the terrestrial native mammals of Argentina. The majority of introductions occurred between the 18th and 19th centuries. Their ports of entry were mainly located in the temperate eco-regions (34º  to 55º SL), and mostly associated with human activities (e.g., sport hunting, food and fur industry purposes). Some of the attributes suggested for their success are their wide geographic ranges, broad herbivorous and omnivorous diet, no ecological counterparts, generalists in habitat use and a predator- free environment. High invasive potential corresponds to wild boar, red deer, goat, european hare, and old world rats, whereas low values were recorded for the red squirrel, antilope and axis deer. Exotic mammals occupy similar eco-regions as in their original distributions, but most of them have experienced a range expansion to novel habitats. The highest density of exotic mammals is found in the temperate eco-regions, and in some places species richness of exotics is higher than that of natives (5). Several topics to be explored are their genetic diversity in relation to small founder populations, ecological role of keystone species/ecosystem engineers (e.g. wild boar, beaver), coexistence and interactions among potential ecological counterparts (e.g. native and exotic medium sized herbivores), rates of dispersal of recent invaders (e.g. squirrel), their role in plant and animal communities, seed dispersal and seed predation, among others. In conclusion, the exotic mammals of Argentina represents a rich diversity of macroniches and a good opportunity for research on ecological and evolutionary processes (Partially funded by ALARM project, EU, CONICET and Agencia- SECYT, Argentina).