Multi-scale mammal responses to agroforestry landscapes in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: the conservation value of forest and traditional shade plantations

Abstract

The future of tropical forest biodiversity will largely depend on human-modified landscapes. We investigated how medium- to large-bodied mammals respond to factors at local (habitat type), intermediate (land use heterogeneity, forest cover and human population density) and large spatial scales (overall forest cover) in agroforestry landscapes. We surveyed mammals using camera traps in traditional cacao agroforests (cabrucas), intensified cacao agroforests, and forest remnants within two large Atlantic Forest landscapes of southern Bahia, Brazil, representing both high and low forest cover. At the local scale, habitat types differed in their potential to harbour mammal species, with forest remnants and cabrucas showing high conservation value, mainly under contexts of high forest cover, whereas intensified cacao agroforests contained less diversified species assemblages in both landscapes. At intermediate scales, species richness increased with increasing forest cover around forest remnants and intensified cacao agroforests, but the opposite was observed in cabrucas. The effects of human population density were ubiquitous but species-dependent. At the largest scale, species richness was higher in the most forested landscape, highlighting the imperative of maintaining forest remnants to retain forest-dwelling mammals in human-dominated landscapes. We claim that mammal conservation strategies require a multi-scale approach and that no single strategy is likely to maximize persistence of all species. Some species can routinely use traditional agroforests, and a large fraction of mammal diversity can be maintained even if high canopy-cover agroforestry dominates the landscape. Nevertheless, forest patches and highly forested landscapes are essential to ensure the persistence of forest-dwelling and game species.

Ecosystem Services from Ecological Agroforestry in Brazil: A Systematic Map of Scientific Evidence

“…By comparing different types of AF with native vegetation and other land uses, different studies [102][103][104] concluded that those AF that promoted higher disturbances in the soil caused a reduction in nitrogen contents and total soil organic carbon stocks compared to the native forest and to treatments that had less intensive soil disturbances. This effect is also demonstrated by another study [101] that concluded that those AF with higher floristic diversity registered a high concentration of soil carbon contents and stocks, increasing the quality of the added organic material, and consequently the humification processes that contribute to the longterm storage of carbon.…”

“…Another share of these studies inferred that the positive effects of AF on soils were related to species structure and richness. By comparing different types of AF (with a different number of species) and natural vegetation as a control, these studies found better contributions for soil quality from the most diverse and rich AF than from the least diverse and rich ones [87,91,[98][99][100][101].…”

Natural factors but not anthropogenic factors affect native and non–native mammal distribution in a Brazilian National Park

“…Occupational patterns of other species were negatively associated with the basal area of small trees, which could indicate difficulty in moving and foraging in these areas (Thornton et al, 2011). However, other studies have found that vegetation traits such as vertical structure index, tree species diversity, percentage of forest and grassland (Andrade-Núñez and Aide, 2010), and forest cover (Ferreira et al, 2020) have influenced mammal species richness. Based on these studies and the fact that the occurrence of mammals can be influenced by tree fructification, we can assume that one of the reasons for the negative association between native mammals in Itatiaia National Park and mean tree basal area was due to the fact that we did not consider only fruiting trees in this study.…”

Wild ungulate responses to anthropogenic land use: a comparative Pantropical analysis

“…Eucalyptus and Pinus ) from shaded tree plantations where native tree species, such as cocoa and coffee, grow underneath a native forest canopy. Such shaded plantations presumably favour the occurrence of wild species, given the higher vertical habitat complexity (Ferreira et al 2020). Our study also reveals an overall positive effect of exotic livestock pastures on wild ungulates, although this effect is likely to be heavily dependent on a benign landscape context.…”