neotropical mammals evolution

[Julio Cesar Voltolini <jcvoltol@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Friends,

1 - I am working with ecology of terrestrial and arboreal small mammals
    (marsupials and rodents) in the Amazonian and Atlantic Rainforests.

2 - Comparing the habits of marsupials and rodents in the Atlantic Forest we
    have very interesting patterns of habitat utilization or spatial niche.
    Terrestrial species are using only the forest floor but..
    any arboreal species can use all forest strata. Therefore, the niche volume
    of a arboreal species is more bigger than in terrestrial species.

3 - There are some questions like...

    a)How to explain the evolution of these patterns ?

    b)What are the processes structuring these patterns ?

    c)How to explain the evolution of arboreality versus terrestriality in
      the neotropics (or anywhere !) ?

    d)What are the correlations between the patterns of the neotropical
      vegetation evolution and small mammals along the time ?

    e)How the canopy environment are changing along the time ?


    I would like to discuss these questions and others with people working on
fossil neotropical fauna and flora to try obtain a evolutionary scenary of the
niche evolution. I think that exploring the forests in all strata (3D) we can
find new patterns of evolution in the tropics.


        Thanks for any information, discussion, papers and people addresses !



				                        Voltolini

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JULIO CESAR VOLTOLINI
UNIVERSITY OF SAO PAULO, I.B.
DEPT. OF ZOOLOGY, CP 11294,
CEP 05422-970, SAO PAULO, SP,
BRASIL.
FAX: 55 11 8187416
TEL: 55 11 8187575
E-MAIL: jcvoltol@cat.cce.usp.br
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