Contributions of zooarchaeology and paleoecology of small mammals to understanding recent ecosystem modifications in northern Patagonia due to human impact

The distribution and abundance of species is a product of the interplay of climatic and environmental factors, both past and present, natural, and anthropogenic. In the most recent stage of the Anthropocene, these changes have been extremely rapid and abrupt. The objective of this work is to discuss some socio-environmental problems of northern Patagonia by comparing micromammal archeological and paleontological sequences attributable to the final Late-Holocene and post-Hispanic period with current samples from the region. Several sites in northern Patagonia, from the Andean forest, the Steppe and Monte regions, and their ecotone, were selected as study cases. The comparison of the species composition from the final Late-Holocene and post-Hispanic assemblages with local small mammal communities indicates species extinctions, considerable reductions in their distributional ranges, and an increase in the abundance of opportunistic taxa. The causes have been attributed to the accelerated deterioration of natural ecosystems due to anthropogenic factors, including habitat destruction caused by the expansion of agriculture and livestock farming, the introduction of exotic plant and animal species, soil compaction, and other factors. Paleoecology, as a historical science of nature, inevitably requires the use of modern analogues in its interpretations, a situation that became increasingly difficult and challenging in the times of the Anthropocene, where current communities are constantly changing due to anthropogenic causes.