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Detecting the vanishing populations of the highly endangered Darwin's fox, Pseudalopex fulvipes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2004

Carles Vilà
Affiliation:
Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA Current address, C. Vila: Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, S-75236 Uppsala, Sweden
Jennifer A. Leonard
Affiliation:
Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA Current address, J. A. Leonard: Genetics Program, Department of Systematic Biology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20008-0551, USA
Agustín Iriarte
Affiliation:
Servicio Agricola y Ganadero, Ave. Bulnes 140, Santiago, Chile
Stephen J. O'Brien
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute-FCRDC, Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201, USA
Warren E. Johnson
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute-FCRDC, Frederick, Maryland 21702-1201, USA
Robert K. Wayne
Affiliation:
Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA
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Abstract

Darwin's fox (Pseudalopex fulvipes) is known to survive only on Chiloé Island off the coast of southern Chile and in Nahuelbuta National Park, 600 km to the north in mainland Chile. The Valdivian coastal forest, in which the Darwin's fox lives, historically spanned from Nahuelbuta National Park southward past Chiloé Island on the mainland. Furthermore, the forest on Chiloé Island was connected to the mainland forest by a land bridge for much of the Pleistocene. Thus, the distribution of Valdivian forest suggests that the historic range of Darwin's fox may have been much larger. We searched the remnant pockets of coastal forest on mainland Chile using live traps, non-invasive techniques and interviews to look for new populations of the critically endangered Darwin's fox. Although no Darwin's fox was captured, evidence of a new population near Punta Chanchán was found.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2004 The Zoological Society of London

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