Environmental determinants and spatial mismatch of mammal diversity measures in Colombia.-Including complementary diversity measures into ecological and conservation studies should improve our ability to link species assemblages to ecosystems. Recent measures such as phylogenetic and functional diversity have furthered our understanding of assemblage patterns of ecosystems and species, allowing improved inference of ecosystem function and conservation. We evaluated spatial patterns of taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity of mammals in Colombia and identified their main environmental determinants, as well as interrelationships and spatial mismatch between the three measures. We found significant effects of elevation and precipitation on species richness, slope and species richness on phylogenetic diversity, and slope and phylogenetic diversity on functional diversity. We also identified a spatial mismatch of the three measures in some areas of the country: 12% of the country for species richness and 14% for phylogenetic and functional diversity. Our results highlight the importance of including species relationships within environmental drivers with biogeographical and distribution analyses and could facilitate selection of priority areas for conservation, especially when mismatch occurs between measures.
Melanism has been commonly recorded in tropical felids, especially within the genus Leopardus. However, so far there are no reports of the existence of melanism in Leopardus wiedii. Herein, we present the first report of melanistic individuals of margays, obtained in Colombia and Costa Rica. The low frequency and scarcity of melanistic margay records along its distribution reflect that this is potentially not an ecological or adaptive advantage for the species, and likely the mutation is not established, or even follows a random frequency in the populations.Keywords: Cryptic species; Melanism; Mutation; Natural history; Wild felids
ResumenEl melanismo ha sido comúnmente registrado en felinos tropicales, especialmente del género Leopardus. Sin embargo, hasta ahora no ha habido reportes de la existencia de melanismo en Leopardus wiedii. Aquí presentamos los primeros reportes de individuos melánicos de margay obtenidos en Colombia y Costa Rica. La baja frecuencia y escases de registros de margay melánicos a lo largo de su distribución posiblemente refleja que este fenómeno no sea una ventaja ecológica ni adaptativa para la especie, y posiblemente la mutación no se ha establecido o su frecuencia es incluso aleatoria en la población.
La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (SNAM) ha sido catalogada como una de las áreas más importantes para la conservación de la biodiversidad (Le Saout et al. 2013), por eso se hace necesario el desarrollo de proyectos y estrategias que propendan por el sostenimiento de la biodiversidad y de los procesos funcionales presentes en los ecosistemas de la región (Zárrate-Charry et al. 2014).
The White-nosed Coati, Nasua narica is a small carnivore distributed from the United States to Ecuador, and whose occurrence in Colombia had only been confirmed from the biogeographic Chocó. Although it was previously erroneously considered widespread in the country, a recent revision identified inconsistencies with some supporting records there. Here we present a new distribution record for the species, which confirms previously alleged information about the presence of this procyonid in the Department of Magdalena, also confirming its current occurrence for the Caribbean region, and solving a long-due geographical distribution uncertainty in the country.
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