Moving from forest vs. grassland perspectives to an integrated view towards the conservation of forest–grassland mosaics

Luza, André Luís; Carlucci, Marcos B.; Hartz, Sandra Maria; Duarte, Leandro da Silva

doi:10.1016/j.ncon.2014.09.005

Cited by 25 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…At last, we would like to underline the implications of our study to conservation policies, especially in southern Brazil. The conservation of grassland-forest mosaics of southern Brazil has been the focus of much debate in recent years (Overbeck et al, 2007, Luza et al 2014. As in other grassland ecosystems around the World, the grasslands of southern Brazil have experienced an increase in density of woody species that is drastically changing its physiognomy (Overbeck et al 2007, Müller et al 2012.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loss of generalist plant species and functional diversity decreases the robustness of a seed dispersal network

Bastazini

Debastiani

Azambuja

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Understanding cascading effects of species loss has become a major challenge for ecologists. Traditionally, the robustness of ecological networks has been evaluated based on scenarios where primary extinctions occur at random or as a function of species specialization, ignoring other important biological factors. Here, we estimated the robustness of a seed dispersal network from a grassland-forest mosaic in southern Brazil simulating distinct scenarios of woody plant species extinction, including scenarios where species are eliminated based . CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license It is made available under a (which was not peer-reviewed) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity.The copyright holder for this preprint . http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/187179 doi: bioRxiv preprint first posted online on their evolutionary and functional distinctiveness. Our results suggest that the network is more robust when species are eliminated based on their evolutionary uniqueness, followed by random extinctions, the extinction of the most specialist species, functional distinctiveness and, at last, when the most generalist species are sequentially eliminated. Our results provide important information for grassland-forest mosaic management, as they indicate that loss of generalist species and functional diversity makes the system more likely to collapse.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loss of generalist plant species and functional diversity decreases the robustness of a seed dispersal network

Bastazini

Debastiani

Azambuja

et al. 2017

Preprint

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“…In our study, disturbances related to fire and/or grazing may have influenced the coexistence patterns even at landscape scale, due to the profound effects of these disturbances on habitat heterogeneity and on mosaic dynamics (Luza et al. ). The continuous effect of cattle grazing and trampling on the vegetation structure and the occasional but severe influence of fire events may function as environmental filters that select only species that are tolerant to postdisturbance conditions, resulting in assemblages that contain more similar species and individuals coexisting at the landscape scale than would be expected by chance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…; Luza et al. ). Thus, environmental filtering leads to assemblages composed of species with phylogenetically conserved tolerances and strategies for habitat exploitation under harsh environmental conditions related to the vegetation structure in these habitats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The morphological and phylogenetic clustering observed here, although unexpected in the forest interior, might be an effect of free access of cattle to the grassland and forest environments. Cattle affect heterogeneity of herbaceous and understory strata through trampling and grazing, preventing the occurrence of many small mammal species (Ped o et al 2010;Luza et al 2014). Thus, environmental filtering leads to assemblages composed of species with phylogenetically conserved tolerances and strategies for habitat exploitation under harsh environmental conditions related to the vegetation structure in these habitats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grassland-forest ecotones are components of vegetation mosaics where forest and grassland physiognomies are in contact (Luza et al 2014). Ecotones may originate from a forest expansion process (Oliveira and Pillar 2004), which allows the establishment of woody plants (nurse plants) and begins the formation of forest patches on grasslands (Duarte et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phylogenetic and morphological relationships between nonvolant small mammals reveal assembly processes at different spatial scales

Luza

Gonçalves

Hartz

2015

Ecology and Evolution

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The relative roles of historical processes, environmental filtering, and ecological interactions in the organization of species assemblages vary depending on the spatial scale. We evaluated the phylogenetic and morphological relationships between species and individuals (i.e., inter- and intraspecific variability) of Neotropical nonvolant small mammals coexisting in grassland-forest ecotones, in landscapes and in regions, that is, three different scales. We used a phylogenetic tree to infer evolutionary relationships, and morphological traits as indicators of performance and niche similarities between species and individuals. Subsequently, we applied phylogenetic and morphologic indexes of diversity and distance between species to evaluate small mammal assemblage structures on the three scales. The results indicated a repulsion pattern near forest edges, showing that phylogenetically similar species coexisted less often than expected by chance. The strategies for niche differentiation might explain the phylogenetic repulsion observed at the edge. Phylogenetic and morphological clustering in the grassland and at the forest interior indicated the coexistence of closely related and ecologically similar species and individuals. Coexistence patterns were similar whether species-trait values or individual values were used. At the landscape and regional scales, assemblages showed a predominant pattern of phylogenetic and morphological clustering. Environmental filters influenced the coexistence patterns at three scales, showing the importance of phylogenetically conserved ecological tolerances in enabling taxa co-occurrence. Evidence of phylogenetic repulsion in one region indicated that other processes beyond environmental filtering are important for community assembly at broad scales. Finally, ecological interactions and environmental filtering seemed important at the local scale, while environmental filtering and historical colonization seemed important for community assembly at broader scales.

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Mammals of the Campos Sulinos: Diversity and Conservation

Hartz,

de Freitas,

Gonçalves

et al. 2023

South Brazilian Grasslands

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Moving from forest vs. grassland perspectives to an integrated view towards the conservation of forest–grassland mosaics

Cited by 25 publications

References 24 publications

Loss of generalist plant species and functional diversity decreases the robustness of a seed dispersal network

Loss of generalist plant species and functional diversity decreases the robustness of a seed dispersal network

Phylogenetic and morphological relationships between nonvolant small mammals reveal assembly processes at different spatial scales

Mammals of the Campos Sulinos: Diversity and Conservation

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