Spatial predictors and species’ traits: evaluating what really matters for medium‐sized and large mammals in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil

Rios, Elaine; Benchimol, Maíra; Vleeschouwer, Kristel De; Cazetta, Eliana

doi:10.1111/mam.12276

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 82 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Species more sensitive to habitat loss, including forest-dependent and large-sized ones, tend to be the first to disappear [97,98], such as the jaguar (Panthera onca), which is virtually extinct from our study landscapes. Although the large forest patches have the higher species richness, of the 13 patches smaller than 1000 ha, only 2 did not present any sensitive species, while at least one threatened species was recorded in 14 out of the 18 sampled patches.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large Protected Areas Safeguard Mammalian Functional Diversity in Human-Modified Landscapes

Fornitano,

Gouvea,

Costa

et al. 2024

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Habitat loss and fragmentation are pervasive processes driving the disappearance of populations and species in the Neotropical region. Since species loss may translate into functional loss, assessing changes in the composition of assemblages’ functional traits might improve our understanding of the ecological roles played by species and ecosystem functioning. Here, we investigate how landscape structure and composition impact the functional diversity of terrestrial mammals in 18 forest patches composing eight protected areas in Southern Brazil. We used functional diversity (FD) based on dietary, physical, and behavioral traits and species vulnerability to extinction. We determined which landscape variables (patch size, proportions of forest and sugarcane, and patch isolation) most influenced mammal FD values by using a both-direction stepwise model selection from a linear global model. Finally, we evaluated the role of trophic guilds in explaining the variation in the FD values using a Principal Component Analysis. Between 2012 and 2017, using camera traps, we recorded 26 native medium- and large-sized mammals throughout the protected areas, of which 6 are regionally threatened, and 5 domestic/exotic species. Richness among the forest patches varied from 4 to 24 species (9.05 ± 5.83), while the FD values varied from 1.29 to 6.59 (2.62 ± 1.51). FD variation was best explained by patch size, which exhibited a strong positive correlation (adjusted R2 = 0.55, slope = 0.67, p < 0.001). Insectivores and frugivores presented the highest correlation with patch size, explaining most of the variation in the FD values. Our findings strengthen the paramount role of large protected areas in maintaining mammal diversity and their ecological functions in human-modified landscapes.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large Protected Areas Safeguard Mammalian Functional Diversity in Human-Modified Landscapes

Fornitano,

Gouvea,

Costa

et al. 2024

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We analyzed the data per field sampling period, calculating the number of records and richness per site and period analyzed (Table S2). To calculate the number of records, we considered only the species with more than six records in the two periods analyzed to avoid the uncertainty of detectability (Rios et al., 2022). We calculated richness, considering all wild species of medium and large‐sized mammals recorded.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A quarter of extant species are threatened and the risk of extinction has increased dramatically (Johnson et al., 2017; Turvey & Crees, 2019) in the last 40 years (Di Minin et al., 2016). However, recent studies have shown that many mammals differ in their level of sensitivity to anthropogenic (Haro‐Carrión et al., 2021; Rios et al., 2022) and seasonal changes (Cruz et al., 2018; Dias et al., 2019; Haro‐Carrión et al., 2021; Miles et al., 2006; Penido et al., 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mammal diversity responses to anthropic, environmental, and seasonal changes within Caatinga seasonal dry forest landscapes

Polli,

dos Santos,

Palmeira

et al. 2024

Biotropica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Caatinga's conservation and biodiversity are threatened due to the intensification of anthropic activities and climate change. The mammals have different responses to seasonal and anthropic changes, however particularly in Caatinga, these effects are still poorly understood. We assessed the influence of anthropic (distance from urban areas and wind farms), environmental (distance from water), and seasonal (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST)) variables on the number of records and richness of medium and large‐sized mammals in Brazilian Caatinga. We used camera traps in 2016–2017 and 2018–2019, estimated the variation (cv) of NDVI and LST, and generated Euclidean distance maps to anthropic and environmental variables at 250, 500, and 1000 m spatial scales. We performed Generalized Linear Models, used the Akaike information criterion, and calculated model averaging to assess the strength and direction of effect and the uncertainties of the winner models, respectively. The distance from wind farms and maximum LST had a noticeable effect on the number of records and total richness. The distance from wind farms had a negative effect on the records of Dicotyles tajacu and a positive effect on the records of Leopardus pardalis and richness. The maximum LST had a negative effect on the records of L. pardalis and a positive effect on the records of Puma concolor and Cerdocyon thous. Our results emphasize that an unsustainable expansion of wind farms is likely to compromise mammal diversity. We found an opposite pattern for some species regarding LST. However, it is important to highlight that the conservation of vegetation areas on the top of mountains and springs, and the installation of artificial water sources are important strategies to mitigate the impacts of high temperatures on mammals' biodiversity in Caatinga.Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.

show abstract

“…These data sets have provided an unprecedented opportunity for the assessment of how environmental conditions and species interactions can predict biodiversity patterns from species to assemblages (e.g. Bovendorp et al 2019, Palmeirim et al 2019, Rios et al 2021b, 2021a, Bonfim et al 2021. However, such studies rely on a highly variable set of spatial data and require intensive data processing, usually differing in the scale and grain, as well as source and quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ATLANTIC SPATIAL: a dataset of landscape, topographic, hydrologic and anthropogenic metrics for the Atlantic Forest

Vancine,

Niebuhr,

Muylaert

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Space is one of the main drivers of biodiversity, once it regulates the underlying processes affecting the distribution and dynamics of species. It is a fundamental factor in face of the rapid climate and land use and land cover changes at local and global scales, which are linked to habitat loss and fragmentation and their impacts on various organisms. The Atlantic Forest of South America (AF) is among the global biodiversity hotspots because of its high species richness and endemism. Most of the threats to the AF biodiversity is due to the expansion of urbanization and industry, extensive agricultural and livestock production and mining. Here, we make available integrated and fine-scale spatial information (resolution = 30 m) for the entire AF extent for the year 2020. The metrics consider different vegetation classes (forest and forest plus other natural vegetation), effects of linear structure (roads and railways) and multiple scales (radius buffer from 50 m to 2,500 m and up to 10 km for some metrics). The entire data set is composed of 500 rasters and the AF delimitation vector, available through the R package atlanticr, which we developed to facilitate the organization and acquisition of the data. The metrics consists of land cover (31 classes), distance to grouped land cover classes (forest vegetation, natural vegetation, pasture, temporary crop, perennial crop, forest plantation, urban areas, mining and water), a set of landscape, topographic and hydrologic metrics and anthropogenic infrastructure. The landscape metrics include landscape morphology (classification as matrix, core, edge, corridor, stepping stone, branch and perforation), fragment area and proportion, area and number of patches, edge and core areas and proportion, structural and functional connectivity (for different organisms’ gap-crossing capabilities), distance to fragment edges, fragment perimeter and perimeter-area ratio and landscape diversity. Topographic metrics include elevation, slope, aspect, curvatures and landform elements (peak, ridge, shoulder, spur, slope, hollow, footslope, valley, pit and ﬂat), hydrologic metrics comprise potential springs and its kernel and potential streams and respective distances and anthropogenic infrastructure maps contain roads, railways, protected areas and indigenous territories and the respective distance to each of them. These data sets will allow for efficient integration of biodiversity and environmental data for the AF in future ecological studies, and we expect it to be an important reference and data source for landscape planning, biodiversity conservation and forest restoration programs.

show abstract

Spatial predictors and species’ traits: evaluating what really matters for medium‐sized and large mammals in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil

Cited by 6 publications

References 82 publications

Large Protected Areas Safeguard Mammalian Functional Diversity in Human-Modified Landscapes

Large Protected Areas Safeguard Mammalian Functional Diversity in Human-Modified Landscapes

Mammal diversity responses to anthropic, environmental, and seasonal changes within Caatinga seasonal dry forest landscapes

ATLANTIC SPATIAL: a dataset of landscape, topographic, hydrologic and anthropogenic metrics for the Atlantic Forest

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About