Javier Mendez reports for El Deber:

RESEARCH AND CONSULTATION TOOL

Mammals of Bolivia are now in a digital database

The information is on a DVD. It can also be accessed from internet. It gathers images and general information about 116 species. There are maps of protected areas and species’ distribution

Zoology

During seven years, four biologists worked to gather in a single query tool, it records mammals of Bolivia. They consulted documents that were published at the beginning of the last century and came up to 2012.

Zulia Porcel, biologist, who participated in the project, says there were some happy coincidences. “We receive the data of a red nose monkey, which was recorded in 2010. “As this project was parallel to a book of mammals, we knew that a guard of the Noel Kempff Park said that there was a new record for the Chiropotes albinasus”, says.

If this search criteria in entered in the DVD, you see that there is a single record for Bolivia. On the other hand, if you enter the term Aotus azarae, there will be  institutions that have recorded sightings of this small species in various places in the Beni territory.

To find you better

Search options include the location in a specific municipality. It is possible to see what kind of geographical references are close to the site of the registry: rivers, roads or communities.

The common name, in addition to general information about each of the 116 species reported was included in the database. There are texts on categories of threat, distribution in protected areas, departments and downloadable maps with records.

According to the WCS [Wildlife Conservation Society], database is not only a compendium of scientific progress made so far in Bolivia on this subject, but it points out the lack of information about species that have very few records in the country. For example, it is likely that the oncilla, a small feline of tropical forests, which covers in more than half of the country, but only has to date, 19 records.

The territory has not been registered

According to the analysis of the results of the database, 31,380 records of distribution of medium and large mammals, 84% of the surface of the country has no records of any mammal.

If departments are taken into account, Chuquisaca has a value over under (93 records) while La Paz and Beni departments have the highest values (8,229 and 15,862 records respectively). The Department of Santa Cruz presents 5,088; Pando, 697; Cochabamba, 652; Tarija, 303; Potosi, 226. and Oruro 177.

In terms of ecoregions, there is less concentration of records in the highlands than in the lowlands. This is notable in prepuna, puna dry and wet, but also in the Chaco Serrano of the lowlands. There is greater sampling effort in the Amazon region snowfalls (up to 9,245 records). Everything can be seen on maps.

http://www.eldeber.com.bo/los-mamiferos-de-bolivia-estan-en-una-base-de-datos-digital/130807190529

A wonderful tool and a better challenge to our biologist, there is plenty of space to cover, and record our wonderful wildlife!