Abstract
Tropical South America is one of the regions with the highest biodiversity levels in the world, however, the origin and evolution of this biodiversity is still poorly understood; creating limitations in understanding resilience and recent past geographic distribution of extant species, many of which are in high risk of extinction due to current deforestation and climate change. The exploration of the fossil record of this region offers a unique opportunity to trace and reveal the origin and most recent evolutionary history of the neotropical biodiversity. Here I present new fossil findings from Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru, particularly turtles that help to understand the recent past (23 million years to present) changes in distribution of the major groups and also could make a contribution to strength educational and conservation plans of threatened extant species, based on the scientific and historical knowledge that they provide.
| Translated title of the contribution | Revelando la historia de la biodiversidad tropical antes de que desaparezca para siempre |
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| Original language | English |
| State | Submitted - Oct 16 2019 |
| Event | 9th Bonn Humboldt Award Winners’ Forum “Frontiers in Biogeography, Ecology, Anthropology, and Evolution. Humboldt and the ‘Cosmos’ revisited in the 21st Century” - Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany Duration: Oct 16 2019 → Oct 19 2019 |
Conference
| Conference | 9th Bonn Humboldt Award Winners’ Forum “Frontiers in Biogeography, Ecology, Anthropology, and Evolution. Humboldt and the ‘Cosmos’ revisited in the 21st Century” |
|---|---|
| Country | Germany |
| City | Bonn |
| Period | 10/16/19 → 10/19/19 |