Dissertation Research on Regional Structure of Species Assemblages and Conservation of Small Mammals in South America

这一美洲项目奖将资助新墨西哥大学研究生导师詹姆斯·H·布朗博士和博士生巴勃罗·A·马奎特先生的论文改进研究。本奖项将把阿根廷和智利已经在进行的高原小型哺乳动物物种分布模式和丰度的研究扩展到玻利维亚。研究人员将收集和分析数据，以检验有关组合结构区域模式的假设。这项研究的结果将为南美国家的保护工作提供新的见解和新的动力，在这些国家，人类引起的景观变化和人口过剩对生物多样性构成越来越大的威胁。这项研究将是专门为评估小型哺乳动物物种在南美洲区域范围内的分布和丰度模式而专门设计的首批研究之一。因此，它将为与在北美沙漠进行的类似研究进行比较铺平道路，并将首次评估智利、阿根廷和玻利维亚普纳地区的小型哺乳动物物种的保护状况。

This Americas Program award will fund a dissertation improvement research by Dr. James H. Brown, graduate advisor, and Mr. Pablo A. Marquet, PhD student, of the University of New Mexico. The present award will extend research on patterns of distribution and abundance of small mammal species in the highlands, already in progress in Argentina and Chile, to Bolivia. The investigators will collect and analyze data to test hypotheses regarding regional patterns of assemblage structure. Results of this research will provide new insights and new impetus to conservation efforts in South American countries where human induced landscape changes and overpopulation represent an increasing threat to biodiversity. This research will be among the first studies specifically designed to evaluate patterns in the distribution and abundance of small mammal species at a regional scale in South America. Thus, it will open the way for comparisons with similar studies carried out in North American deserts and will also provide the first assessment of the conservation status of the small mammals species inhabiting the Puna area of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.