Natural forest regeneration on anthropized landscapes could overcome climate change effects on the endangered maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus, Illiger 1811)

Climate change and habitat loss have been identified as the main causes of species extinction. Forest regeneration and protected areas are essential to buffer climate change impacts and to ensure quality habitats for threatened species. We assessed the current and future environmental suitability for the maned sloth, Bradypus torquatus, under both future climate and forest restoration scenarios, using ecological niche modeling. We compared environmental suitability for two Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUnorth and ESUsouth) using two climate change scenarios for 2070, and three potential forest regeneration scenarios. Likewise, we evaluated the protection degree of the suitable areas resulting from the models, according to Brazilian law: PA—Protected Areas; PPA—Permanent Protection Areas (environmentally sensitive areas in private properties); and LR—Legal Reserves (natural vegetation areas in private properties). Finally, we calculated the deficit of PPA and LR in each ESU, considering the current forest cover. Forest regeneration might mitigate the deleterious effects of climate change by maintaining and increasing environmental suitability in future scenarios. The ESUnorth contains more suitable areas (21,570 km²) than the ESUsouth (12,386 km²), with an increase in all future scenarios (up to 45,648 km² of new suitable areas), while ESUsouth might have a significant decrease (up to 7,546 km² less). Suitable areas are mostly unprotected (ESUnorth—65.5% and ESUsouth—58.3%). Therefore, PPA and PA can maintain only a small portion of current and future suitable areas. Both ESUs present a high deficit of PPA and LR, highlighting the necessity to act in the recovery of these areas to accomplish a large-scale restoration, mitigate climate change effects, and achieve, at least, a minimum forested area to safeguard the species. Notwithstanding, a long-term conservation of B. torquatus will benefit from forest regeneration besides those minimum requirements, allied to the protection of forest areas. Atlantic Forest, climate change, conservation, forest regeneration, landscape ecology, Pilosa, XenarthraNatural forest regeneration on anthropogenic landscapes could overcome climate change effects on the endangered maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus, Illiger 1811)acceptedVersio

Land-use changes lead to functional loss of terrestrial mammals in a Neotropical rainforest

Land-use changes are a main driver of modifications in tropical ecosystems, leading to the loss of species and ecological traits and affecting key ecological functions. Although much attention has been given to predict the effects of species loss on ecological processes, information on the large-scale effects of land-use changes over ecological functions is scarce. Here, we detected erosion in the prevalence of ecological functions performed by mammals in response to land-use changes in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. By analyzing the loss of different ecological functions (vertebrate and invertebrate predation, seed dispersal, seed depredation, herbivory) performed by mammal assemblages in a deforestation gradient, we observed that vulnerable functions (performed by sensitive species, such as browsing, seed depredation, medium and large vertebrate predation) were positively related to patch size and forest cover and negatively related to anthropogenic cover. These relationships were reversed for persistent functions (performed by resilient species, such as grazing, small seed dispersal, small vertebrate and invertebrate predation). Vulnerable functions were virtually restricted to large forest remnants, while persistent functions were prevalent in human-modified landscapes. Disturbed forests are not necessarily empty of mammal species, but there is a substantial loss of ecological functions across most of the Atlantic Forest. Five out of ten ecological functions lose prevalence in small forest remnants. Nonetheless, these small remnants serve as refuges for the remaining biodiversity and are on the verge of the functional extinction of important processes. The erosion of ecological functions provided by mammals compromise the persistence of Atlantic Forest's biodiversity. (C) 2021 Associacao Brasileira de Ciencia Ecologica e Conservacao. Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Influence of vegetation physiognomy, elevation and fire frequency on medium and large mammals in two protected areas of the Espinhaco Range

The objectives of this study were to determine the richness of medium and large mammal species in two protected areas of the Espinhaço Mountain Range, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil; and to investigate the factors affecting the occurrence of those species. To accomplish that we placed 49 camera traps activated by heat and motion at Rio Preto State Park (RPSP) and 48 at Sempre Vivas National Park (SVNP). We also collected data on three environmental variables: vegetation physiognomy, elevation and wildfire frequency, to evaluate the influence of these factors on species richness and use intensity (inferred from camera trap detection rate) by large mammals. We recorded 23 large mammal species in the two parks combined. The lowest species richness was found at the rupestrian habitat of RPSP, and in the open grasslands of SVNP. The forest and savannah physiognomies were used more intensively by large mammals. Species richness was higher and use was greater at lower elevations of RPSP. In SVNP, fire frequency did not affect species richness or use intensity. The savannah habitat had very similar richness compared to the forests of the two protected areas. The high species richness and use intensity observed in these forest habitats highlights the importance of riparian environments in the Cerrado biome. The highest species richness and use intensity observed at low elevation follows patterns found in the literature, probably due to variation in the vegetation, which results in greater resource availability. Although rupestrian habitats at high elevations of the Espinhaço Range are known to have a high degree of endemism for some taxa, large mammal richness and use were not high in this habitat. These results indicate that the protection of native vegetation at lower elevations is crucial for the long-term conservation of large mammals in the Espinhaço Range

Neotropical xenarthrans: a data set of occurrence of xenarthran species in the neotropics

Xenarthrans -anteaters, sloths, and armadillos- have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts with domestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across their full distribution ranges. The Neotropics harbor 21 species of armadillos, 10 anteaters, and 6 sloths. Our data set includes the families Chlamyphoridae (13), Dasypodidae (7), Myrmecophagidae (3), Bradypodidae (4), and Megalonychidae (2). We have no occurrence data on Dasypus pilosus (Dasypodidae). Regarding Cyclopedidae, until recently, only one species was recognized, but new genetic studies have revealed that the group is represented by seven species. In this data paper, we compiled a total of 42,528 records of 31 species, represented by occurrence and quantitative data, totaling 24,847 unique georeferenced records. The geographic range is from the southern United States, Mexico, and Caribbean countries at the northern portion of the Neotropics, to the austral distribution in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. Regarding anteaters, Myrmecophaga tridactyla has the most records (n = 5,941), and Cyclopes sp. Have the fewest (n = 240). The armadillo species with the most data is Dasypus novemcinctus (n = 11,588), and the fewest data are recorded for Calyptophractus retusus (n = 33). With regard to sloth species, Bradypus variegatus has the most records (n = 962), and Bradypus pygmaeus has the fewest (n = 12). Our main objective with Neotropical Xenarthrans is to make occurrence and quantitative data available to facilitate more ecological research, particularly if we integrate the xenarthran data with other data sets of Neotropical Series that will become.Fil: Marques Santos, Paloma. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; BrasilFil: Bocchiglieri, Adriana. Universidade Federal de Sergipe; BrasilFil: Garcia Chiarello, Adriano. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Pereira Paglia, Adriano. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; BrasilFil: Moreira, Adryelle. Amplo Engenharia e Gestão de Projetos ; BrasilFil: Abba, Agustin Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Paviolo, Agustin Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical; ArgentinaFil: Gatica, Ailin. Universidad Nacional de San Luis; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones Biológicas de San Luis. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones Biológicas de San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Ochoa, Ana Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones Biológicas de San Luis. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones Biológicas de San Luis; ArgentinaFil: de Angelo, Carlos Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto. Facultad de Cs.exactas Fisicoquimicas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra, Biodiversidad y Ambiente.; ArgentinaFil: Tellaeche, Cintia Gisele. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Centro de Estudios Ambientales Territoriales y Sociales; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; ArgentinaFil: Varela, Diego Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Vanderhoeven, Ezequiel Andres. Ministerio de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Caruso, María Flavia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Administración de Parques Nacionales. Delegación Regional del Noroeste; ArgentinaFil: Arrabal, Juan Pablo. Secretaria de Gobierno de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Medicina Tropical - Sede Puerto Iguazú Misiones; Argentina. Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico; ArgentinaFil: Iezzi, María Eugenia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Di Bitetti, Mario Santiago. Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Cruz, Paula Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; Argentina. Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico; ArgentinaFil: Reppucci, Juan Ignacio. Administración de Parques Nacionales. Delegación Regional del Noroeste; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Benito Santamaria, Silvia. Centro de Investigaciones del Bosque Atlántico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Quiroga, Verónica Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal; ArgentinaFil: Di Blanco, Yamil Edgardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Marás, Gustavo Arnaldo. Administración de Parques Nacionales. Delegación Regional del Noroeste; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Camino, Micaela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Perovic, Pablo Gastón. Administración de Parques Nacionales. Delegación Regional del Noroeste; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martínez Pardo, Julia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Costa, Sebastián Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; ArgentinaFil: Pinheiro, Fabiana. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; BrasilFil: Volkmer de Castilho, Pedro. Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; BrasilFil: Bercê, William. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Camara Assis, Julia. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho. Faculdade de Engenharia.; BrasilFil: Rodrigues Tonetti, Vinicius. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Alves Eigenheer, Milene. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Chinem, Simonne. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Honda, Laura K.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Bergallo, Helena de Godoy. Universidade do Estado de Rio do Janeiro; BrasilFil: Alberici, Vinicius. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Wallace, Robert. Wildlife Conservation Society; Estados UnidosFil: Ribeiro, Milton Cezar. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Galetti, Mauro. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; Brasi

ATLANTIC-PRIMATES: a dataset of communities and occurrences of primates in the Atlantic Forests of South America

Primates play an important role in ecosystem functioning and offer critical insights into human evolution, biology, behavior, and emerging infectious diseases. There are 26 primate species in the Atlantic Forests of South America, 19 of them endemic. We compiled a dataset of 5,472 georeferenced locations of 26 native and 1 introduced primate species, as hybrids in the genera Callithrix and Alouatta. The dataset includes 700 primate communities, 8,121 single species occurrences and 714 estimates of primate population sizes, covering most natural forest types of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina and some other biomes. On average, primate communities of the Atlantic Forest harbor 2 ± 1 species (range = 1–6). However, about 40% of primate communities contain only one species. Alouatta guariba (N = 2,188 records) and Sapajus nigritus (N = 1,127) were the species with the most records. Callicebus barbarabrownae (N = 35), Leontopithecus caissara (N = 38), and Sapajus libidinosus (N = 41) were the species with the least records. Recorded primate densities varied from 0.004 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta guariba at Fragmento do Bugre, Paraná, Brazil) to 400 individuals/km 2 (Alouatta caraya in Santiago, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). Our dataset reflects disparity between the numerous primate census conducted in the Atlantic Forest, in contrast to the scarcity of estimates of population sizes and densities. With these data, researchers can develop different macroecological and regional level studies, focusing on communities, populations, species co-occurrence and distribution patterns. Moreover, the data can also be used to assess the consequences of fragmentation, defaunation, and disease outbreaks on different ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, species invasion or extinction, and community dynamics. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this Data Paper when the data are used in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using the data. © 2018 by the The Authors. Ecology © 2018 The Ecological Society of Americ

Ecosystem Services Modeling as a Tool for Defining Priority Areas for Conservation

<div><p>Conservationists often have difficulty obtaining financial and social support for protected areas that do not demonstrate their benefits for society. Therefore, ecosystem services have gained importance in conservation science in the last decade, as these services provide further justification for appropriate management and conservation of natural systems. We used InVEST software and a set of GIS procedures to quantify, spatialize and evaluated the overlap between ecosystem services—carbon stock and sediment retention—and a biodiversity proxy–habitat quality. In addition, we proposed a method that serves as an initial approach of a priority areas selection process. The method considers the synergism between ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Our study region is the Iron Quadrangle, an important Brazilian mining province and a conservation priority area located in the interface of two biodiversity hotspots, the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes. The resultant priority area for the maintenance of the highest values of ecosystem services and habitat quality was about 13% of the study area. Among those priority areas, 30% are already within established strictly protected areas, and 12% are in sustainable use protected areas. Following the transparent and highly replicable method we proposed in this study, conservation planners can better determine which areas fulfill multiple goals and can locate the trade-offs in the landscape. We also gave a step towards the improvement of the habitat quality model with a topography parameter. In areas of very rugged topography, we have to consider geomorfometric barriers for anthropogenic impacts and for species movement and we must think beyond the linear distances. Moreover, we used a model that considers the tree mortality caused by edge effects in the estimation of carbon stock. We found low spatial congruence among the modeled services, mostly because of the pattern of sediment retention distribution.</p></div

Heterogeneidade estrutural e diversidade de pequenos mamíferos em um fragmento de mata secundária de Minas Gerais, Brasil

The aim is to determine the relationship between the diversity of small mammals and the structural heterogeneity and/or secondary successional stages in an Atlantic forest fragment at Viçosa (Minas Gerais). We used Sherman and hook live traps to sample this fauna, monthly from may 1992 to april 1993 in three areas: an abandoned plantation of Melinis minutiflora (campo) and two distinct forest areas (capoeira and mata). The structural heterogeneity was determined as a function of the presence of dead trees, pioneer species, epiphytes, the distances between trees, the tree height and basal area measured by a modified quadrant sample method (Cottam & Curtis 1945). lt was sampled a total of 340 individuals belonging to 17 species. The homogeneous plantations had the highest diversity (H' = 1,67). Among the two forests stands the less heterogeneous capoeira had similar diversity (H' = 1,19) than the more heterogeneous stand, the mata (H' = 1,13). The unexpected higher diversity and species richness in the more homogeneous habitat may be explained by some hidden factor which decrease the competition for resources in this community