CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

When confronted with limited data, ecological niche models (ENMs) have proven to be very useful tools for estimating the potential distribution of species, particularly in poorly-studied regions such as South America. Here, we present three case studies in which we apply ENMs in conservation and species introduction in southern South America. In all cases, we used Maxent to model species potential distributions. In the first example, we combined ENM and reserve selection algorithms to assess conservation priorities of all the species of armadillos and anteaters of Argentina. Our objectives were to assess the performance of the current protected area system at representing the target species, and to identify potential conservation areas to expand the existing network. We found that several species were underrepresented within protected areas. We provide a map to illustrate where the areas of highest conservation concern are. In the second example, we modeled the distribution of the pudu, a small deer endemic to the Temperate Rainforests of Chile and Argentina. To account for changes in land cover we used historic (ca. 1550) and recent (2000) vegetation maps to restrict the potential distribution of the species. Thus, areas that have been transformed or degraded were excluded from the potential distribution. We found that approximately 50% of what could have been suitable habitat for the deer is now converted or degraded. Finally, in another study we modeled the distribution of the wild boar to assess its potential invasiveness in southern South America. In this study, we used data from the native and introduced range to generate the models. We found that the Atlantic coast of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, the central region and the southern forests of Argentina and Chile are areas of high vulnerability to wild boar invasion.