Neotropical non‐primate canopy mammals: historical trends, omissions, and geographic gaps in the knowledge

Abstract

Canopy mammals constitute a diverse and widely distributed group. However, these species have not been widely studied, and there are currently many gaps in our knowledge of their ecology, behaviour, distribution, and conservation status. We identified crucial trends and omissions in terms of research effort on research themes, taxonomic groups, countries, and protected areas (PAs) and geographic information biases. A systematic review was conducted by consulting two electronic databases (Web of Science and Scopus), including research conducted within neotropical countries (from central Mexico to northern Argentina) until the end of the first half of 2021. All the references obtained were reviewed and categorised, and the geographical location of each study was extracted to evaluate geographical gaps. We found that two orders (Carnivora and Didelphimorphia) and three families (Didelphidae, Felidae, and Cricetidae) were the most studied taxa, and were featured in more than 50% of cases. Brazil had the highest number of studies. Topics concerning diseases (19% of cases), distribution (14%), and ecology (14%) were the most frequently addressed; only 4.6% of the studies focused on anthropogenic disturbances, and less than 30% of the studies were conducted within PAs. We found that one of the largest and most important geographical biases in knowledge was in the northern Amazon region, where the number of studies was low or null. This study lays the groundwork for future research on these understudied mammals, to develop better research that can allow us to design more appropriate conservation strategies.