Patterns of arboreal and terrestrial space use by non-volant small mammals in an Araucaria forest of southern Brazil

Abstract

Despite the advances in the techniques for researching arboreal small mammals, detailed ecological data, such as habitat use patterns, are practically nonexistent for many species. Using 150 live-traps installed on the ground, understory (1.0-5.0m) and canopy (>5.0m) we investigated patterns of arboreal and terrestrial space use by small mammals in an Araucaria Forest in southern Brazil (29º29'08''S; 50º12'26''W). We also measured 19 microhabitat variables that could potentially influence the abundance of such mammals on each trap station. The results indicated that Akodon montensis and A. serrensis were mainly terrestrial. Delomys dorsalis was also terrestrial, but it also used understory (17.24% of captures). Juliomys sp. and Gracilinanus microtarsus were the most arboreal small mammals recorded. A. montensis was associated with dense vegetation, while A. serrensis selected positively opened areas. Juliomys sp. and G. microtarsus were associated to microhabitat variables related to the access and movement within the canopy. Moreover, bromeliads on arboreal layer were an important factor for these two arboreal species. This is the first study to report microhabitat associations by Juliomys sp. and A. serrensis, and we demonstrated that vertical stratification and microhabitat use were both synergic mechanisms to determine habitat use by small mammals on the Araucaria Forest of southern Brazil.

Non-volant mammals of the Mestre Álvaro Environmental Protection Area, state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil

“…Nectomys squamipes is semi-aquatic (Ernest and Mares 1986), and was captured on the ground, next to a watercourse. Three species were captured in the understory: D. aurita, M. paraguayana, and Gracilinanus microtarsus, but only the latter is arboreal (Abreu and Oliveira 2014).…”

Small mammals and microhabitat selection in forest fragments in the transition zone between Atlantic Forest and Pampa biome

“…Habitat segregation can facilitate species coexistence through resource partitioning (Schoener, 1974;Rosenzweig, 1981;Abreu & Oliveira, 2014). Previous studies demonstrated that small mammal species tend to coexist more often than would be expected in highly heterogeneous environments, while the inverse pattern is observed in environments with lower heterogeneity (Stevens et al, 2012;Camargo et al, 2018).…”

Impact of Predator Exclusion and Habitat on Seroprevalence of New World Orthohantavirus Harbored by Two Sympatric Rodents within the Interior Atlantic Forest

“…As previously mentioned, evidence suggests that habitat may be interrelated with predator presence [ 117 , 118 , 120 , 127 ]. In the Atlantic forests of Paraguay and Brazil, A. montensis , a primarily terrestrial species, is associated with dense ground vegetation and open canopy cover [ 28 , 41 , 46 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 131 ] while in Brazil, O. nigripes , an arboreal species, is associated with denser understory vegetation (e.g., shrubs) and lower canopy cover [ 128 , 129 , 130 ], suggesting that these microhabitat associations may be preferred as a function of predator avoidance. When examining the independent effect of forest degradation level on rodent abundance, there were no differences in the average abundances of A. montensis , O. nigripes , or H. megacephalus ( Tables S2–S4 ).…”