A forest‐specialist carnivore in the middle of the desert?Comments on Anabalon et al. 2019

Abstract

We present comments on an article recently published in Ecology and Evolution ("High-resolution melting of the cytochrome B gene in fecal DNA: A powerful approach for fox species identification of the Lycalopex genus in Chile") by Anabalon et al. that reported the presence of Darwin's fox (Lycalopex fulvipes), a temperate forest specialist, in the hyperarid Atacama Desert of northern Chile. We argue that this putative record lacks ecological support in light of ongoing research on this endangered species, and contains numerous methodological flaws and omissions related to the molecular identification of the species. Based on these issues, we suggest the scientific community and conservation decision-makers disregard the alleged presence of the Darwin's fox in the Atacama Desert. The ongoing vertebrate population declines reported in the Living Planet Report (WWF, 2018) challenges conservationists and environmental agencies to provide reliable information, particularly on endangered species, to inform decisions and help to achieve conservation goals. The discovery of new populations is particularly important for conservation planning, especially when laying outside the known geographic distributions (Guisan et al., 2013; Margules & Pressey, 2000). In a recent issue of Ecology and Evolution, Anabalón et al. (2019) used high-resolution melting (HRM), based on thermal denaturation of DNA amplicons, as a method to identify different Chilean fox species (Lycalopex spp.) from scat samples collected in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile (ca. 26°31′S, 70°30′W; Figure 1), one of the most arid environments in the world (McKay et al., 2003). The study reports a remarkable discovery: the presence of the endangered Darwin's fox (Lycalopex fulvipes), in the hyperarid Atacama Desert, more than 1,200 km further north than the limit of its currently known distribution (Figure 1). We argue this record is South American gray fox (L. griseus) is present on Chiloe Island (a stronghold for the Darwin's fox); this is incorrect (see González delThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.