Small non-flying mammals (Mammalia: Didelphimorphia and Rodentia) of the lower Rio Xingu

• Grant number: 11/15793-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Reis Percequillo
• Grantee: Leandro Perez Godoy
• 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 region stands as the largest and the most diverse tropical forest os the world (Mittermier et al., 1992, 1997). Such diversity refers specially to the rodents and the marsupials that make up the the most diverse neotropical mammalian group (Fonseca, 1996; Costa et al., 2005; Plagia et al., 2012) with 107 species recognized to date, where 91 are endemic of this biome (Plagia et al., 2012). However our knowledge of its diversity, phylogeny and distribution is limited, hindering conservation efforts, specially on regional scale (Brito, 2004). Among the hypotheses arised to explain such diversity, the riverine barrier hypothesis seems applicable to an subspeciation and speciation approaches of some taxa. In rivers as the Xingu, which has a straight course and tributaries that flows through a high slope in the northern Brazilian Shield that prevent the formation of meanders and the the carrying of animals by cutting off the land connection of the meanders. As a corroborating fact of this statement is the Xingu river separates two endemism areas in Amazon, called Tapajós and Xingu, formed by the rivers Tapajós, Xingu and Tocantins. In this context, the present project aims to determinate the small non-volant mammalian fauna of the lower region of Xingu river by using detailed analyses on molecular and morphological levels, at each margin and between the margins to define the samples and understand the variations at different levels in order to comprehend how the populations diversify from each other and to contribute to a better understanding of the diversity and distribution of this group in the Amazon region.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

GODOY, Leandro Perez. Nonvolant mammals (Mammalia: Didelphimorphia and Rodentia) of the lower Xingu river. 2015. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC) Piracicaba.