Small nonvolant mammals (Mammalia: Didelphimorphia and Rodentia) from the Upper Rio Madeira

• Grant number: 11/19463-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): February 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): November 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Reis Percequillo
• Grantee: Vanessa Lucena de Salles
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 09/16009-1 - Systematics, evolution and diversification of the subfamily Sigmodontinae in South America: the tribe Oryzomyini, AP.JP

Abstract

The Amazon forest is recognized as the largest tropical forest, with a total area of 4,871,000 km2. Given the great diversity of Amazonian vegetation types, the region currently has 311 species of mammals, 22 species are marsupial and 72 are rodent species. One of the earliest hypotheses to explain the great Amazon diversity is the theory proposed by Wallace (1852), in which he argues that the large rivers of the Amazon form barriers to gene flow, promoting speciation. But due to the high deforestation in the Amazon region, both by the advancement of livestock and developmental projects, the same levels of risk to the diversity that occurs in the Atlantic Forest are also applied to this region. Rondônia State already has a loss of 39.72% of the forested area, according to PRODES project datas of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE). With the construction of hydroelectric plants, Jirau and Santo Antônio, in the Upper Rio Madeira, the fauna and flora of the region will be profoundly changed. Therefore, it is important to perform taxonomic studies, as inventories, in the region before it is modified. In this context, this project aims the characterization of small nonvolant mammals of the region of the Upper Rio Madeira, through morphological and morphometric analyses and test the degree of influence of this river in the diversity of mammals in the region, in other words, if the Rio Madeira acts as a barrier between the population on both sides, both qualitatively and quantitatively.(AU)