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The exotic mammals of Argentina

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Abstract

Exotic mammals in South America represent about 20% of world mammal introductions. The aim of our paper is to provide a global assessment of the exotic mammals of Argentina, their pathways, impacts, and a synthesis of their attributes as potential invasive species. We reviewed and compiled data from a diversity of sources and databases on alien mammals occurring in feral state exclusively. We recorded 18 species of exotic mammals for Argentina. The majority of introductions occurred between the 18th and 19th centuries and their ports of entry were located in temperate ecosystems, between 34° and 55° SL. Most of their entry pathways were associated with human activities (e.g. sport hunting, food and fur industry). The exotic mammals occupy ecoregions similar to their original distributions, but most of them have experienced a range expansion to novel habitats. The fauna of exotic mammals of Argentina represents a good opportunity to understand the dynamics of the invasion process as they represent a diversity of ecological groups and environmental contexts.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the comments and suggestions made by Jutta Stadler, Diego Vazquez, Cecilia Lanzone, Ramiro Ovejero and Ingolf Kühn in earlier versions of this ms. We thank Nelly Horak for helping with the English style. We appreciate the support of the UFZ Department of Community Ecology, in Leipzig-Halle, Germany. This project is part of the EU-funded research project ALARM (Settele et al. 2005) to develop and test methods and protocols for the assessment of large-scale environmental risks. We appreciate the continuous support of our institutions IADIZA-CONICET.

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  1. Grupo de Investigaciones de Biodiversidad, IADIZA, CONICET, CC 507, 5500, Mendoza, Argentina

    Agustina Novillo & Ricardo A. Ojeda

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Correspondence to Agustina Novillo.

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Novillo, A., Ojeda, R.A. The exotic mammals of Argentina. Biol Invasions 10, 1333–1344 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-007-9208-8

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