Small mammal assemblages in a disturbed tropical landscape at Pozuzo, Peru

Abstract

Deforestation in the Peruvian pre-montane forests has increased alarmingly in recent years. Particularly, fragmentation in these forests takes place against a background of very extensive continuous forest. Until now, no studies have detailed how Peruvian small mammals responded to forest fragmentation. In this paper, we report the results of an assessment of nonvolant small mammal fauna in forest remnants (one large fragment and one small fragment) and cattle pasture in a disturbed landscape at Pozuzo, formerly a pre-montane tropical forest in central Peru. In each forest remnant, we quantify habitat parameters and identified small mammals to know if there is a relationship between forest remnant size or microhabitat structure and small mammal assemblages. In addition, we investigated the influence of habitat structure on the presence of small mammal species. We did not find any evidence that habitat structure in large fragment was greater than small fragment. Actually, both forest remnants presented habitat features typical of forests subject to higher levels of disturbance. We found that abundance of small trees (10 -19 cm DBH) was positively associated with the presence of Marmosops noctivagus, but negatively with the presence of Oecomys bicolor. Likewise, the presence of the arboreal Rhipidomys leucodactylus was associated with the abundance of larger trees (DBH 4 50 cm). We recorded 12 small mammal species in large fragment, 9 in small fragment and 3 in cattle pasture. No significant differences were found in species richness between both fragments, but marsupial abundance in the small fragment was greater than large fragment. At Pozuzo, we recorded 9 species restricted to forest habitat and 3 to forest and cattle pastures. However, it is necessary to assess more fragments to improve our knowledge about species survival in this landscape.

The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

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Respuestas de los murciélagos a la fragmentación del bosque en Pozuzo, Perú

“…Por ejemplo, una parte importante de la diversidad de aves terrestres nativas presentes en los bosques tropicales suelen utilizar los campos agrícolas que han surgido luego de la deforestación (Perfecto et al 2003). Similares resultados han sido encontrados para artrópodos (Perfecto, et al 2003, Schonberg et al 2004), algunos grupos de mamíferos terrestres (Daily et al 2003, Mena & Medellín 2010, Naughton-Treves et al 2003) y en murciélagos (Castro-Luna et al 2007, Medellín et al 2000.…”

Effects of disturbance on small mammal community structure in the New Jersey Pinelands, USA

“…Some small mammal species in the Monte Desert of Argentina have higher density in sites disturbed by cattle grazing and other species have higher densities in undisturbed reserves (Tabeni & Ojeda 2005). There was little difference in species present in a cloud forest reserve and disturbed areas in Mexico (Vázquez et al 2000) but disturbed habitat (cattle pasture) had lower richness of small mammal species than forest fragments in tropical Peru (Mena & Medellín 2010). Thus, disturbance has variable effects depending upon the species of small mammals present and the characteristics of the ecosystem in question.…”

“…After tree harvest in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma in the USA, small mammals are more abundant in harvested stands than in unharvested controls (Perry & Thill 2005). Species composition of small mammals differ in a cloud forest reserve and nearby disturbed areas in western Mexico (Vázquez et al 2000) and in a pre-montane forest and cattle pasture in Peru (Mena & Medellín 2010). In addition, disturbance affects the small mammal community in the moist cool highveld grassland in the Free State of South Africa (Avenant 2000).…”