The northern coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro harbors the largest coastal sandy plains (restingas) of southeastern Brazil, severely threatened due to recent human occupation. In this context, mammal inventories becomes urgent to support biodiversity conservation and management policies. This paper aims to update the knowledge on the mammalian species richness of Restinga de Jurubatiba National Park by analyzing pellets of the Barn owl Tyto furcata. The analyses of 4745 mammalian bone fragments (1739 individuals) revealed the occurrence of 17 species belonging to the orders Rodentia (9 spp.), Didelphimorphia (2 spp.) and Chiroptera (6 spp.). The rodents Mus musculus and Cerradomys goytaca accounted for 77.2% of the total individuals preyed, suggesting that the Barn owl hunts in both disturbed and natural open shrub formations. A compilation of previous records, together with those provided in the present study, indicates the occurrence of 44 species of mammals in the Restinga de Jurubatiba National Park, of which six (13.6%) were exclusively detected in pellets. These new records include species adapted to open formations of the interior of Brazil that were not previously reported in restingas on the basis of voucher-specimens, such as the rodents Necromys lasiurus and Calomys tener, the latter being recorded for the first time in the littoral of Rio de Janeiro state. This study underscores the importance of owl pellet analysis as a complementary and indispensable method for inventorying mammals. The results highlight the Restinga de Jurubatiba National Park as one of the restingas in Southeastern Brazil with the highest number of mammal species.

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal‐central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation‐related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data.

The most studied impact on road ecology is roadkill, however, there is little information about the relations between highways and specific groups like bats. This study intended to identify the species of bats roadkilled and to evaluate the existence of temporal fluctuation between the roadkill rates, specific stretches of the road with higher rates, and characteristics of the road/landscape that may influence those rates. We encountered at least nine bat species among 65 roadkills (most Phyllostomidae), which comprise a subgroup of the local fauna that presents ecologic features that make them susceptible to being hit, especially Artibeus lituratus. The medium roadkill rate was of 0.01 individuals/km/day of monitoring, and there was no significant temporal variation. We identified five hotspots through special 2D HotSpot Identification Analysis. The selection of theoretical models through Generalized Linear Models showed that roadkill occurrence has a positive relation with vehicular traffic and negative relation with presence of marginal pasture and forests. As the major part of records was of species that are tolerant to human-disturbances, the increase in traffic consequently affected a higher number of bats capable to explore the area occupied by the road. The presence of native forest close to the road can lead to a decrease of animals hit by vehicles, once it offers more resources and favorable habitats, which reduces the need for bats to cross the roads for foraging. On the other hand, many species that necessarily depend on areas sheltered by trees for shelter, and do not possess the ability to fly long distances do not occur in open areas such as pastures. In this context, we suggest that the main measure of mitigation regard bat species would be the traffic control through speed limit, especially on the roadkill hotspots areas.

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non‐detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non‐governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer‐reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non‐detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio‐temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large‐scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data.

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O Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais e Conservação (PPG-CiAC), criado em 2011, é o primeiro PPG da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) fora da capital do estado. Ao longo dos últimos cinco anos, mais de 50 dissertações de mestrado foram defendidas no programa, geralmente tendo como objeto de estudo os ecossistemas e a sociedade do norte do estado do Rio de Janeiro, região que tem passado por grandes mudanças socioeconômicas nas últimas décadas. Em conjunto, a produção do PPG-CiAC contribui para o aumento do conhecimento científico multi e interdisciplinar regional, pautado na integração entre ciências naturais e sociais. Neste artigo apresenta-se síntese das principais contribuições do PPG-CiAC, focando na promoção do desenvolvimento sustentável da região.

RESUMOAs restingas são planícies arenosas costeiras que abrigam ecossistemas peculiares devido às suas condições edáficas e microclimáticas. Estas condições favorecem a dominância de espécies vegetais adaptadas a condições áridas e semi-áridas, mesmo sob climas tropicais e subtropicais úmidos, limitando a riqueza de pequenos mamíferos neotropicais. Com poucas restingas estudadas em termos de dinâmica populacional de seus pequenos mamíferos, pouco se sabe sobre as influências das condições ambientais destas fisionomias na ecologia destes animais. Neste estudo descrevemos a dinâmica populacional de Cerradomys goytaca, um roedor endêmico de restingas, a partir de um monitoramento de captura-marcação-recaptura de três anos (2011)(2012)(2013)(2014) no Parque Nacional da Restinga de Jurubatiba. Investigamos os possíveis efeitos das chuvas na variação do tamanho populacional testando diferentes níveis de defasagem na resposta à precipitação e suas relações com a taxa de sobrevivência e com o tamanho populacional prévio. Avaliamos também até que ponto a estratégia demográfica de C. goytaca refletiria uma possível especialização às condições ambientais das restingas. Cerradomys goytaca apresentou elevadas taxas de sobrevivência entre trimestres e flutuações populacionais sazonais, com picos populacionais durante a estação seca, conforme observado em roedores de Mata Atlântica. O modelo de variação do tamanho populacional selecionado corroborou a importância do efeito tardio da precipitação na dinâmica populacional, mas propôs que a estiagem dois meses antes da campanha, e não o excesso de chuvas, determinou aumentos na sobrevivência e na abundância de C. goytaca, sugerindo a possibilidade alternativa de que a flutuação populacional desta espécie estivesse ligada a recursos com disponibilidade favorecida pela estiagem. Combinando elevada sobrevivência média, flutuação populacional sutil e influência negativa das chuvas no crescimento populacional, C. goytaca apresenta uma bionomia peculiar e ligeiramente distinta em relação a outras espécies de pequenos mamíferos em restingas, o que a coloca como um interessante modelo para se estudar o papel das singularidades ecológicas das restingas em sua mastofauna. Palavras-chave: ecologia de populações; fatores climáticos; parâmetros demográficos; sazonalidade. ABSTRACT -POPULATION DYNAMICS OF Cerradomys goytaCa TAvA-RES, PESSôA AND GONçALvES, 2011 (RODENTIA: CRICETIDAE), A SPECIES ENDEMIC TO BRAZILIAN COASTAL SANDY PLAINS.Restingas are coastal sandy plains that harbor peculiar ecosystems due to their soil and microclimates. These conditions favor the dominance of arid and semi-arid adapted plant species, even under humid tropical and subtropical climates, limiting the species richness of Neotropical small mammals. As the population dynamics of small mammals have been studied in only a few restingas, the influences of the environmental conditions of these physiognomies on mammal populations remain largely unknown. In this paper we describe the population dynamics of a restinga endem...