Abstract

MONJEAU, J. Adrián et al. Latitudinal patterns of species richness distribution in South American carnivores. Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2009, vol.16, n.1, pp.95-108. ISSN 0327-9383.

The distribution and range of the 45 South American species of Carnivora (except Pinnipedia) currently recognized taxonomically was delimited from a detailed study of the literature. This study analyzes the ecogeographic patterns that operate at a continental scale in this family, which are particularly peculiar for not respecting natural landscape frontiers. The relation between the species distribution and latitudinal bands was evaluated using a Geographical Information System (GIS) with statistical regressions and correlations being carried out between geographical variables, areas, species richness, and latitude. The latitudinal bands with a higher species richness corresponded to the tropical bands with larger quantity of ecoregions, whereas a marked correlation was also found to exist between the area of the latitudinal bands, the area of the ecoregions and the species richness; however, a strong causeless correlation between area and latitude masked the individual contribution of these variables to the species richness. To assess the effect of latitude in the number of carnivore species we conducted a partial correlation analysis upon the number of species per band (SpL) and the latitude after removing the area effect. Species richness declined as latitude increased, but increased as area increased. We conclude that a combination of temperature and area is the predominant factor in the explanation of species richness distribution. This work supports the concept of an energetic gradient (the amount of energy available per surface unit) which gives rise to latitudinal gradients and the area effect.

Keywords : Carnivora; Energetic gradient; Macroecology; Neotropics.

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