Roberto Donoso-Barros

This paper presents an exploratory study on the taxonomic diversity of pre-Hispanic archaeofaunas in the South-Central Andes (SCA; western South America) from the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary to the Late-Holocene. The SCA is a complex of diverse environments and has undergone distinct climate events for the last 13,000 years, such as the occurrence of warmer and drier conditions in the Middle-Holocene. The South-Central Andean area was part of the larger Andes interaction area, which was a primary center for animal and plant domestication and the emergence of agro-pastoralist economies. Since subsistence was key to these processes, the SCA provides a relevant case study on the interactions among environment, foodways and sociocultural evolution. Taxonomic diversity was used here as a proxy for diet breadth. A total of 268 archaeofaunal assemblages were sampled from the zooarchaeological literature. Reviewed variables included the cultural chronology and spatial coordinates of the assemblages, as well as the presence and abundance of taxa at the family rank. Taxonomic diversity covered two dimensions: composition (families present in each assemblage) and structure (quantitative relationships among taxa), which was measured through richness (NTAXA), ubiquity and relative abundance (NISP based rank-order). Despite the uneven distribution of samples, the analyses revealed the following trends: (1) a moderate relationship between NTAXA and distance from coastline for most of the Holocene; (2) a potential decrease in assemblage richness for coastal ecoregions during the Late-Holocene; and (3) a generalized increase in the relative abundance of Camelidae.

Climate change is a global phenomenon that will generate profound changes in biodiversity in the near future. Studies have reported negative impacts of climate change for South American amphibians; however, for Andean species such as Rhinella spinulosa, the potential response to the effects of climate change is unknown. Using ecological niche models, we estimate the potential distribution of R. spinulosa, identifying the environmental variables that explain its distribution and projecting predictions in climate change scenarios to elucidate their impact on the distribution pattern. The results revealed that the variables of elevation (48.7%), mean temperature of the hottest quarter (44.2%), and topographic humidity index (3.2%) were the most important contributors to the model and are predictors of the distribution of R. spinulosa. The most suitable areas for its distribution are its current range, extending to the north, as well as on the western Andean slope and Argentine Patagonia. Predictions for the future (year 2080) under two scenarios (benign and severe) coincide with the distribution predicted for the current one. Climatic conditions will not be considerably different in the distribution area of R. spinulosa, which may be due to the buffer effect of the mountain range. However, freshwater ecosystems will be more at risk from climate change, which could affect the reproductive success and survival of amphibians. Therefore, we recommend evaluating water availability at a local scale to understand the potential changes in the geographic distribution of R. spinulosa.

Climate change is a global phenomenon that will generate profound changes in biodiversity in the near future. Studies have reported negative impacts of climate change for South American amphibians; however, for Andean species such as Rhinella spinulosa, the potential response to the effects of climate change is unknown. Using ecological niche models, we estimate the potential distribution of R. spinulosa, identifying the environmental variables that explain its distribution and projecting predictions in climate change scenarios to elucidate their impact on the distribution pattern. The results revealed that the variables of elevation (48.7%), mean temperature of the hottest quarter (44.2%), and topographic humidity index (3.2%) were the most important contributors to the model and are predictors of the distribution of R. spinulosa. The most suitable areas for its distribution are its current range, extending to the north, as well as on the western Andean slope and Argentine Patagonia. Predictions for the future (year 2080) under two scenarios (benign and severe) coincide with the distribution predicted for the current one. Climatic conditions will not be considerably different in the distribution area of R. spinulosa, which may be due to the buffer effect of the mountain range. However, freshwater ecosystems will be more at risk from climate change, which could affect the reproductive success and survival of amphibians. Therefore, we recommend evaluating water availability at a local scale to understand the potential changes in the geographic distribution of R. spinulosa.

The Amazon has high biodiversity, which has been attributed to different geological events such as the formation of rivers. The Old and Young Amazon hypotheses have been proposed regarding the date of the formation of the Amazon basin. Different studies of historical biogeography support the Young A…

Aim: Polyploids have been theorized to occur more frequently in environments that are subjected to severe conditions or sudden disruptions. Here we test the expectation that polyploid taxa occur more frequently in extreme or disrupted environments than their diploid counterparts, whether due to inc…

Species occurrence records provide the basis for many biodiversity studies. They derive from georeferenced specimens deposited in natural history collections and visual observations, such as those obtained through various mobile applications. Given the rapid increase in availability of such data, th…

The American tropics (the Neotropics) are the most species-rich realm on Earth, and for centuries, scientists have attempted to understand the origins and evolution of their biodiversity. It is now clear that different regions and taxonomic groups have responded differently to geological and climati…