Indirect effects of habitat loss via habitat fragmentation: A cross-taxa analysis of forest-dependent species

Püttker, Thomas; Crouzeilles, Renato; Almeida‐Gomes, Mauricio; Schmoeller, Marina; Maurenza, Daniel; Alves-Pinto, Helena; Pardini, Renata; Vieira, Marcus Vinícius; Banks‐Leite, Cristina; Fonseca, Carlos Roberto; Metzger, Jean Paul; Accacio, Gustavo Mattos; Alexandrino, Eduardo Roberto; Barros, Camila Santos; Bogoni, Juliano André; Bôscolo, Danilo; Brancalion, Pedro Henrique Santin; Bueno, Adriana A.; Cambuí, Elaine C. B.; Canale, Gustavo Rodrigues; Cerqueira, Rui; César, Ricardo G.; Colletta, Gabriel Dalla; Delciellos, Ana Cláudia; Dixo, Marianna; Estavillo, Candelaria; Esteves, Carolina Franco; Falcão, Fábio de Carvalho; Farah, Fabiano Turini; Faria, Deborah; Ferraz, Kátia Maria Paschoaletto Micchi de Barros; Ferraz, Simone Erotildes Teleginski; Ferreira, Patrícia Alves; Graipel, Maurício Eduardo; Grelle, Carlos Eduardo Viveiros; Hernández, Malva Isabel Medina; Ivanauskas, Natália Macedo; Laps, Rudi Ricardo; Leal, Inara R.; Lima, Marília Mascarenhas; Lion, Marília Bruzzi; Magioli, Marcelo; Magnago, Luiz Fernando Silva; Mangueira, Julia R.A.S.; Marciano-Jr, Euvaldo; Mariano‐Neto, Eduardo; Marques, Márcia C. M.; Martins, Sebastião Venâncio; Matos, Marlla A.; Matos, Fábio Antônio Ribeiro; Miachir, Jeanette I.; Morante-Filho, José M.; Olifiers, Natalie; Oliveira‐Santos, Luiz Gustavo Rodrigues; Paciência, Mateus Luís Barradas; Paglia, Adriano Pereira; Passamani, Marcelo; Peres, Carlos A.; Pinto-Leite, Clarissa Machado; Porto, Tiago Jordão; Querido, Luciano C.A.; Reis, Luciana Carvalho; Rezende, Andréia Alves; Rigueira, Dary Moreira Gonçalves; Rocha, Pedro Luís Bernardo da; Rocha‐Santos, Larissa; Rodrigues, Ricardo Ribeiro; Santos, Rafael A. S.; Santos, Juliana Silveira dos; Silveira, Maxwell Souza; Simonelli, Marcelo; Tabarelli, Marcelo; Vasconcelos, Rodrigo Nogueira de; Viana, Blandina Felipe; Vieira, Emerson M.; Prevedello, Jayme Augusto

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108368

Cited by 112 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…We tested how within‐patch dynamics—particularly the early life stages of seedling recruitment—played a role in long‐term maintenance of tree diversity in fragments. As expected, edge effects reduced diversity (Püttker et al., 2020): intact forest and large fragments had higher diversity (Figure 3) than small fragments and fragments without interior habitat. Rather than demographic stochasticity or fitness differences, diversity loss occurred due to a weakening of the stabilizing effect of conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD, Figure 5).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

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Dispersal limitation and weaker stabilizing mechanisms mediate loss of diversity with edge effects in forest fragments

Krishnadas

Stump

2021

Journal of Ecology

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Whether fragmented ecosystems can maintain diversity is a key ecological question. The ability of fragmented forests to support diversity is determined by both landscape‐scale metapopulation dynamics and within‐patch mechanisms that govern species coexistence. Within‐patch dynamics can be affected by proximity to forest edges. Edge effects on abiotic and biotic processes can alter species' performance and species interactions, but it is unclear how edge effects bear upon the long‐term ability of fragmented forests to maintain diversity. We apply modern coexistence theory as a framework to predict the impact of edge effects on species coexistence. Using field data for a tropical tree community, we parameterized a spatially explicit simulation model to quantify how habitat and density dependence during seedling establishment affect diversity of later life stages. We matched simulated future communities to observed patterns of diversity and community structure for established seedlings and adults, coupled with sensitivity analysis of simulated effects. We found that early recruitment dynamics contributed to community structure at older life stages, corroborating empirical work on the importance of early life‐stage dynamics for diversity. Edge effects reduced the diversity maintained in patches. The progressive loss of diversity was not due to changes in relative competitive ability (fitness differences), but due to weaker stabilization via density‐dependent seed mortality. Results were robust to wide changes in the absolute values of model parameters, suggesting that variation in the strength of individual processes did not change their relative importance for diversity. Synthesis. Weakening of stabilizing processes that promote species self‐limitation in ecological communities could compromise the ability of habitat fragments to maintain diversity. Quantifying the relative importance of intraspecific versus interspecific interactions—to assess stabilizing mechanisms and fitness differences—can help evaluate when habitat amount versus quality plays a larger role in maintaining diversity of fragments.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…We also found that many small patches maintained less diversity than one large patch (Figure 3), highlighting the importance of habitat quality (Haddad, Gonzalez, et al., 2017; Püttker et al., 2020). Thus, ‘high‐quality’ habitat can be qualified as areas where edge effects do not compromise the mechanisms of species coexistence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Dispersal limitation and weaker stabilizing mechanisms mediate loss of diversity with edge effects in forest fragments

Krishnadas

Stump

2021

Journal of Ecology

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“…Other anthropogenic disturbances also affect mammal guild structure and trophic organization (e.g., 10 , 83 – 85 ). Although accounting for only weak explanatory power (e.g., 6%; p = 0.04), high-intensity fire disturbance (> 200 hotpixels per 1-km grid cell) on average amplified the level of defaunation by ~ 10%.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, since the European conquest over five centuries ago, Neotropical biodiversity has been gradually depleted in many major ecoregions (e.g., 6 – 8 ). Several chronic anthropogenic drivers, including habitat loss, overhunting, intentional or accidental wildfires, diseases and the introduction of alien species 9 , 10 increasingly threaten the Neotropical mammal fauna. A large body of evidence to date reveals the overwhelming decline of local to regional scale Neotropical mammal diversity, except for some of the most remote areas far removed from human settlements such as large tracts of roadless Amazonian forests 11 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extent, intensity and drivers of mammal defaunation: a continental-scale analysis across the Neotropics

Bogoni

Peres

Ferraz

2020

Sci Rep

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Neotropical mammal diversity is currently threatened by several chronic human-induced pressures. We compiled 1,029 contemporary mammal assemblages surveyed across the Neotropics to quantify the continental-scale extent and intensity of defaunation and understand their determinants based on environmental covariates. We calculated a local defaunation index for all assemblages—adjusted by a false-absence ratio—which was examined using structural equation models. We propose a hunting index based on socioenvironmental co-variables that either intensify or inhibit hunting, which we used as an additional predictor of defaunation. Mammal defaunation intensity across the Neotropics on average erased 56.5% of the local source fauna, with ungulates comprising the most ubiquitous losses. The extent of defaunation is widespread, but more incipient in hitherto relatively intact major biomes that are rapidly succumbing to encroaching deforestation frontiers. Assemblage-wide mammal body mass distribution was greatly reduced from a historical 95th-percentile of ~ 14 kg to only ~ 4 kg in modern assemblages. Defaunation and depletion of large-bodied species were primarily driven by hunting pressure and remaining habitat area. Our findings can inform guidelines to design transnational conservation policies to safeguard native vertebrates, and ensure that the “empty ecosystem” syndrome will be deterred from reaching much of the New World tropics.

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“…Although the Atlantic Forest has only 13% of its original area covered by native vegetation, the corridor along the AFT is relatively well maintained. Habitat amount in landscapes has emerged as the most important determinant of species richness of all groups of organisms worldwide [ 54 ], particularly in the Atlantic Forest of South America [ 55 , 56 ]. Forest cover may be a proxy for habitat amount at large spatial scales, such as the whole Atlantic Forest biome, even though at local spatial scales this assumption may not hold [ 57 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability issues in a tropical mega trail

et al. 2021

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Sustainability is a target that involves many socio-ecological questions, depends on opportunities and combines different initiatives. This can be especially difficult in regions with high biodiversity scores, mega cities, high level of human populations and an intense and long-standing land use. Here, we show how a mega trail, named Atlantic Forest Trail, within the Brazilian Atlantic Forest can join the protection of biodiversity and sustainable tourism through a 4270 km corridor connecting protected areas and crossing a variety of landscapes. Further, we show some initiatives of ongoing biodiversity monitoring, and an analysis of ecological restoration in private lands that can be applied in many regions to improve habitat connectivity for both biodiversity and human use.

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Indirect effects of habitat loss via habitat fragmentation: A cross-taxa analysis of forest-dependent species

Cited by 112 publications

References 70 publications

Dispersal limitation and weaker stabilizing mechanisms mediate loss of diversity with edge effects in forest fragments

Dispersal limitation and weaker stabilizing mechanisms mediate loss of diversity with edge effects in forest fragments

Extent, intensity and drivers of mammal defaunation: a continental-scale analysis across the Neotropics

Sustainability issues in a tropical mega trail

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