The plausible extinction of an Andean rodent: a victim of climate change?
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Erika Cuellar Soto
,
Mauro N. Tammone
,
Damián Voglino
and
Ulyses F.J. Pardiñas
Abstract
Climate change is affecting biotic conditions at high altitude, particularly for species with narrow habitat preferences. Among them is the Andean rodent Aconaemys fuscus, known only from its holotype, collected in Argentina more than 150 years ago. Surveys in its purported habitat, including those conducted in 2017, have failed to detect the species and instead have documented the presence of another caviomorph, Ctenomys. Glacier recession, reduced snow precipitation, and increased grazing pressure on highland wetlands in the Central Andes suggest that A. fuscus may have been extirpated from the region due to climate change.
Funding source: Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica
Award Identifier / Grant number: PICT 2020-2068
Acknowledgments
Fieldwork in southwestern Mendoza was supported by Serman & Asociados S.A. and Empresa Mendocina de Energía S.A.J. Pardiñas enthusiastically helped in field activities.
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Research ethics: All the procedures involving live animals were consistent with the guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogy for the use of wild mammals in research and were allowed by the Dirección de Fauna de Mendoza under the permit 2018-354-E-GDEMZA.
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Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study, or their legal guardians or wards.
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Author contributions: ECC and UFJP contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of this contribution; ECC, MNT, DV, and UFJP actively participated in the fieldwork; MNT made the distribution model; DV made the map and took most of the photographs here employed; MNT and DV discussed and enriched the text. All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
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Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: Agencia grant (PICT) 2020-2068.
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Data availability: The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are partially included in the present paper or can be requested directly to the corresponding author (those belonging to specific field data obtained in Mendoza); specimens mentioned in this contribution are available in the following public biological repositories: CNP: Colección de Mamíferos, Centro Nacional Patagónico, Puerto Madryn, Chubut; BM: The Natural History, London.
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Supplementary Material
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