Mammals of a forest fragment in Cambuci municipality, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest is considered a hotspot due to its current state of vast degradation and high indexes of biodiversity. This biome has been degraded through the years by processes resulting from the Brazilian socioeconomic model of development. The seasonal semi-deciduous Atlantic Forest is a poorly studied phytophysiognomy specially degraded by human activities in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In the present study we report the results of a rapid mammalian inventory conducted in the municipality of Cambuci, in a fragment of seasonal semi-deciduous forest. We used live traps and pitfall traps to capture non-volant small mammals, and mist-nets of different lengths to collect bats. To sample medium and large-sized mammals we used camera traps. We recorded 27 mammal species in the region, of which 16 are volant mammals. We emphasize the distribution extension of Trinomys setosus in 150 km (that enabled its insertion in the species list of Rio de Janeiro) and the capture of Lonchophylla peracchii, a recently described species apparently restricted to Atlantic Forest. Both facts show the importance of the fragment for the region biodiversity.

A Survey of Small Mammals in the Atlantic Forest of the Northwestern Region of Rio De Janeiro State

“…The occurrence of T. setosus in northwestern Rio de Janeiro has already been reported in Cambuci (Attias et al 2009, Albuquerque et al 2013. The last compilation of rodents considered the existence of two T. setosus subspecies: T. s. setosus from the states of Sergipe, Bahia and Espírito Santo, characterized by a karyotype of 2n=56 and FN=108; and T. s. elegans from the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, characterized by a karyotype of 2n=56 and FN=104 (Patton et al 2015, Corrêa et al 2005.…”

“…The studied areas are characterized by fragmented landscapes of secondary seasonal semideciduous forest formations in medium and advanced stages of regeneration, and a highly disturbed matrix composed mainly of shrub vegetation and pastures resulting from cattle raising activities and fires (Carvalho et al 2000, Albuquerque et al 2013, Fundação SOS Mata Atlântica & INPE 2015. The vegetation cover of the studied areas varied from 18 to 26%; the area with greatest vegetation cover was Miracema (approximately 26%), followed by Itaperuna (19%) and, Varre-sai and Cambuci, both with approximately 18% (Riski et al 2015).…”

“…The Order Rodentia accounts for 32% of mammals in this biome (98 species), while Didelphimorphia represents 7.3% (22 species) (Paglia et al 2012). Several studies of small mammals have been carried out in the Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro State, but little information is available about the state's northwestern region (Albuquerque et al 2013), where there are few protected areas ).…”

Traits that allow bats of tropical lowland origin to conquer mountains: Bat assemblages along elevational gradients in the South American Atlantic Forest

“…Numbers in the map: References: 1—Albuquerque et al. (); 2—Modesto, Pessoa, Enrici, et al. (); 3—Santos (); 4—Esbérard (); 5—Modesto, Pessôa, Jordão‐Nogueira, et al.…”

A New and Simple Method to Capture Small Arboreal Mammals: The Suspended Pitfall

“…Consequently, there is a lack of data to answer most of the related questions. These difficulties have discouraged many researchers from studying the higher strata of the forests, limiting the surveys to no more than 2 m in height (Albuquerque et al, 2013;Carvalho & Oliveira, 2015;Delciellos, 2016;Helder-José et al, 2016;Leite & Costa, 2018).…”