This Americas Program award will fund a dissertation improvement research by Dr. James H. Brown, graduate advisor, and Mr. Pablo A. Marquet, PhD student, of the University of New Mexico. The present award will extend research on patterns of distribution and abundance of small mammal species in the highlands, already in progress in Argentina and Chile, to Bolivia. The investigators will collect and analyze data to test hypotheses regarding regional patterns of assemblage structure. Results of this research will provide new insights and new impetus to conservation efforts in South American countries where human induced landscape changes and overpopulation represent an increasing threat to biodiversity. This research will be among the first studies specifically designed to evaluate patterns in the distribution and abundance of small mammal species at a regional scale in South America. Thus, it will open the way for comparisons with similar studies carried out in North American deserts and will also provide the first assessment of the conservation status of the small mammals species inhabiting the Puna area of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.
