Habitat specialization interacts with habitat amount to determine dispersal success of rodents in fragmented landscapes

Püttker, Thomas; Bueno, Adriana A.; Barros, Camila Santos; Sommer, Simone; Pardini, Renata

doi:10.1644/12-mamm-a-119.1

Cited by 31 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…ranges, maximum distances) and to collect data on population dynamics (e.g. survival, fecundity, abundance; (Pelikan et al 1964, Puttker et al 2013. Nevertheless, the distance between traps in grids or line transects (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimising sampling methods for small mammal communities in Neotropical rainforests

2017

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Quantifying mammalian biodiversity is a critical yet daunting challenge, particularly in species‐rich ecosystems. Non‐volant small mammals account for >60% of the mammalian diversity and often require several survey methods to estimate their species richness and abundance, because of differences in their size and behaviour. Using 117 studies at 278 sites in a species‐rich biome, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, we determined the influence of trap configuration, trap type, and sampling effort on measures of species richness and abundance. We used generalised linear mixed‐effects models to determine which methodological approaches influenced estimates of species richness and abundance at the sampling sites. We used estimates of beta (β) to determine which methods improved species richness and abundance estimates, and generated predicted values for the overall species richness as a function of trap configuration (line transect, grid, or both), trap type (pitfall traps, live‐traps or both), and sampling effort (number of trap‐nights). Our results indicated that sites in which pitfall traps alone were used generated higher estimates of the overall small mammal species richness and abundance, and rodent abundance, than sites in which only live‐traps were used. Sites in which pitfall traps alone were used also produced higher estimates of species richness and abundance, and rodent species richness and abundance, than sites in which both trap types were used. Increased sampling effort led to increased estimates of species richness, but sites in which pitfall traps were used alone or together with live‐traps had higher estimates of species richness with less sampling effort than sites in which live‐traps only were used. Using pitfall traps greatly reduced the number of trap‐nights necessary to obtain a good estimate of small mammal species richness in a community. We found no influence of trap configuration (line transects or grids) on estimates of species richness, but the abundance of rodents was estimated to be higher in sites where both line transects and grids were used, than in sites where only one trap configuration was used. Our review shows the importance of using pitfall traps in research, monitoring, and environmental impact studies on species‐rich small mammal communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimising sampling methods for small mammal communities in Neotropical rainforests

2017

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“…This rodent is used as an indicator species in conservation studies [24-32]. The species was selected due to its high copy number variation in MHC class II DRB loci and relevance for further immuno-ecological studies [32-34].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

MHC genotyping of non-model organisms using next-generation sequencing: a new methodology to deal with artefacts and allelic dropout

2013

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BackgroundThe Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is the most important genetic marker to study patterns of adaptive genetic variation determining pathogen resistance and associated life history decisions. It is used in many different research fields ranging from human medical, molecular evolutionary to functional biodiversity studies. Correct assessment of the individual allelic diversity pattern and the underlying structural sequence variation is the basic requirement to address the functional importance of MHC variability. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies are likely to replace traditional genotyping methods to a great extent in the near future but first empirical studies strongly indicate the need for a rigorous quality control pipeline. Strict approaches for data validation and allele calling to distinguish true alleles from artefacts are required.ResultsWe developed the analytical methodology and validated a data processing procedure which can be applied to any organism. It allows the separation of true alleles from artefacts and the evaluation of genotyping reliability, which in addition to artefacts considers for the first time the possibility of allelic dropout due to unbalanced amplification efficiencies across alleles. Finally, we developed a method to assess the confidence level per genotype a-posteriori, which helps to decide which alleles and individuals should be included in any further downstream analyses. The latter method could also be used for optimizing experiment designs in the future.ConclusionsCombining our workflow with the study of amplification efficiency offers the chance for researchers to evaluate enormous amounts of NGS-generated data in great detail, improving confidence over the downstream analyses and subsequent applications.

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“…We created buffers using the reported capture station point inside the fragment. The 500-m radius buffer was selected a priori based on studies that used this distance to assess connectivity and quality of habitat (Umetsu et al 2008, Pardini et al 2010, Cassano et al 2014) and the potential dispersal distance of non-volant small mammals from the Atlantic forest Biome (Püttker et al 2012(Püttker et al , 2013.…”

Section: Forest Covermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Adaptation of terrestrial, fossorial, aquatic and arboreal habitat indicate where a species spends its time foraging. These adaptations can provide niche partitioning, thus avoiding competition between species along the forest (Prevedello et al 2010, Püttker et al 2013, Galetti et al 2016). Period of activity (diurnal, crepuscular and nocturnal) has been associated with the sharing of resources and is considered one of the most important components of the niche (Schoener 1974, Graipel et al 2003.…”

Section: Trait Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defaunation and fragmentation erode small mammal diversity dimensions in tropical forests

et al. 2018

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Forest fragmentation and defaunation are considered the main drivers of biodiversity loss, yet the synergistic effects of landscape changes and biotic interactions on assemblage structure have been poorly investigated. Here, we use an extensive dataset of 283 assemblages and 105 species of small mammals to understand how defaunation of medium and large mammals and forest fragmentation change the community composition and diversity of rodents and marsupials in tropical forests of South America. We used structured equation models to investigate the relationship between small mammal species, functional and phylogenetic diversity with forest size, forest cover and the occurrence of medium and large mammals. The best‐fit model showed that defaunation reduced functional diversity, and that species diversity of small mammals increased with forest patch size. Forest cover did not affect functional and phylogenetic diversity. Our results indicate that occurrence of medium and large sized mammals (probably acting as predators, or competitors of small mammals) and forest patch size help to retain species and functional diversity in small mammal communities. Further, the number of species in a small mammal community was critical to the maintenance of phylogenetic diversity, and may have a pronounced influence on the ecological functions played by small mammals. Identifying how phylogenetic and functional diversity change in function of human pressures allows us to better understand the contribution of extant lineages to ecosystem functioning in tropical forests.

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Habitat specialization interacts with habitat amount to determine dispersal success of rodents in fragmented landscapes

Cited by 31 publications

References 73 publications

Optimising sampling methods for small mammal communities in Neotropical rainforests

Optimising sampling methods for small mammal communities in Neotropical rainforests

MHC genotyping of non-model organisms using next-generation sequencing: a new methodology to deal with artefacts and allelic dropout

Defaunation and fragmentation erode small mammal diversity dimensions in tropical forests

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