Mammalian species richness in Paraguay: The effectiveness of national parks in preserving biodiversity Original Research Article

Paraguay is a small, landlocked country of 406,752 km2 in the center of South America and is home to 162 species of mammals representing 30 families and nine orders. During the past 30 years, Paraguay has moved actively to identify lands to include in a system of national parks, reserves, and monuments. Mammalian species richness in some existing, established national parks of Paraguay was used to assess the effectiveness of parks in preserving biodiversity. The national parks system in Paraguay is still in its infancy, with rigorous biological inventories of mammals conducted for only four of the parks. These four parks contain 128 species of mammals with relatively little similarity in species composition among parks. Although the range of an individual species may include a national park, only a portion of the species potentially found in the park may actually have been collected there. Although larger parks generally contain a larger number of species, more importantly larger parks contain a greater proportion of the potential species pool. This study also identifies potential target species to be included in future parks and reserves. For example, only one of the five species of deer are found in these four parks. Extensive biological inventories of the other parks and reserves is a priority of the office of national parks and wildlife in Paraguay, and is vital in order to determine the overall effectiveness of Paraguayʹs protected areas in preserving biodiversity.