CARNIVORANS FROM URUGUAY: UPDATED DISTRIBUTION AND CHANGES THROUGH TIME CARNÍVOROS DE URUGUAY: DISTRIBUCIÓN ACTUALIZADA Y CAMBIOS A TRAVÉS DEL TIEMPO

SCHIAFFINI, MAURO I.; MOL, ALEXANDRA CRAVINO; GONZÁLEZ, ENRIQUE M.; MARTÍNEZ-LANFRANCO, JUAN A.; BUSCHIAZZO, MARTÍN; BOU, NADIA; COSSE, MARIANA; GONZÁLEZ, SUSANA

MASTOZOOLOGí­A NEOTROPICAL

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

Año: 2023 vol. 30

0327-9383

Carnivorans are vital for ecosystem functioning and are one of the main groups used for conservation purposes. However, some species receive less attention than others. As many ecological aspects of South American carnivorans are unknown, the distribution range becomes of primary importance for conservation use. We aimed to analyze the distribution of terrestrial carnivorans in Uruguay, yielding an updated database and including a temporal dimension of distribution changes. We searched the main collections of mammals and bibliographic references for carnivorans in Uruguay. We divided the records according to temporal provenance and analyzed the changes in knowledge of distributions according to time. We also analyzed species and family richness for actual times with a 25 x 25 km grid. Finally, we studied the possible bias in data gathering related to roads. We ensembled the most complete database for carnivoran distribution in Uruguay, with 1905 records. The country had a total species richness of 16, varying with time according to local extinctions and new records of different species. The most common species was Cerdocyon thous, while the least recorded was Nasua nasua. The jaguar Panthera onca has been extinct since historical times, while Pteronura brasiliensis has probably been extinct since actual times. The areas with higher species richness were located in the northeastern, south, and southeastern parts of the country. A bias in data gathering was present, marked by the proximity to roads. Finally, protected areas in Uruguay showed a different proportion of protected species, regardless of their surface.