A macroecological perspective on neotropical rodents

Abstract

The last 25 years have seen the growth of Mastozoología Neotropical and the rise of macroecology. Neotropical rodents offer ideal groups to understand broad-scale ecological processes, and at the same time, macroecological approaches applied to these rodents help us achieve understanding about their biogeography and evolution. Some patterns resulting from the rodent radiations in the Neotropics are now adequately understood, but we are still far from understanding the underlying ecological processes. Paths to advance macroecological research include fully integrating biogeographical and evolutionary accounts into large scale ecological studies, and improving macroecological models using process-based models and proper null predictions. In order to do that, it is essential to have more reliable information about the biology of Neotropical rodents, which depend on basic natural history research and data storage in museum collections.