DEFAU-BIOTA: the effects of defaunation on soil carbon and plant functional diversity in the Atlantic Forest

• Grant number: 22/09561-4
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2022
• End date: October 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Mauro Galetti Rodrigues
• Grantee: Mauro Galetti Rodrigues
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: Rio Claro
• Associated researchers: Jose Ignacio Fernandez de La Pradilla Villar ; Luiz Guilherme dos Santos Ribas ; Pedro Jordano
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/03147-7 - Frugivore bird diversity in the DEFAU-BIota experiment, BP.TT; 23/05946-1 - Field Guide of Seedlings of the Atlantic Forest, BP.TT; 23/04060-0 - Defaunation effects on functional traits of seedlings in the Atlantic forest, BP.TT

Abstract

Large mammalian herbivores (LMH's), once widespread, are now functional or locally extinct in most tropical ecosystems. LMH's exert strong direct and indirect effects on community structure and ecosystem functions, and measuring these effects is important for testing ecological theory and for understanding past, current, and future environmental change. This in turn requires long-term experimental manipulations, owing to the slow and often nonlinear responses of populations and assemblages to LMH removal. Since 2009, we have maintained the DEFAU-BIOTA experiment, a series of selective LMH exclosures replicated across a productivity gradient in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. The goal of the DEFAU-BIOTA experiment is to measure the effects of LMH's diversity and abundance on soil carbon and the functional traits of plants. (AU)

Scientific publications

(6)

(The scientific publications listed on this page originate from the Web of Science or SciELO databases. Their authors have cited FAPESP grant or fellowship project numbers awarded to Principal Investigators or Fellowship Recipients, whether or not they are among the authors. This information is collected automatically and retrieved directly from those bibliometric databases.)

PIRES, MATHIAS M.; GALETTI, MAURO. Beyond the ?empty forest?: The defaunation syndromes of Neotropical forests in the Anthropocene. GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION, v. 41, p. 9-pg., 2023-01-01. (19/25478-7, 22/09561-4)

STARK, GAVIN; GALETTI, MAURO. Rewilding in cold blood: Restoring functionality in degraded ecosystems using herbivorous reptiles. GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION, v. 50, p. 16-pg., 2024-02-19. (22/09561-4)

EMER, CARINE; VILLAR, NACHO; MELO, NATALIA; ZIPARRO, VALESCA B.; NAZARETH, SERGIO; GALETTI, MAURO. The interplay between defaunation and phylogenetic diversity affects leaf damage by natural enemies in tropical plants. JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, v. 112, n. 5, p. 14-pg., 2024-02-07. (15/15172-7, 21/10639-5, 22/09561-4, 15/11521-7, 14/01986-0)

MARTINS, LUCAS P.; STOUFFER, DANIEL B.; EMER, CARINE; GALETTI, MAURO; PIZO, MARCO AURELIO; DA SILVA, FERNANDA RIBEIRO; TYLIANAKIS, JASON M.. Determinants of species' centrality in spatially-connected plant-frugivore networks. ECOGRAPHY, v. N/A, p. 13-pg., 2025-03-04. (16/18355-8, 21/10639-5, 14/01986-0, 15/15172-7, 22/09561-4)

REGOLIN, ANDRE LUIS; COLLEVATTI, ROSANE GARCIA; BAILEY, LARISSA L.; BOSCOLO, DANILO; LAUTENSCHLAGER, LAIS; BECA, GABRIELLE; DIAS, VIVIANE BRITO; GALETTI, MAURO. Habitat fragmentation explains the occupancy probability of the largest herbivore in the Neotropical forests. Biological Conservation, v. 311, p. 9-pg., 2025-08-13. (21/10639-5, 22/09561-4, 22/10760-1, 24/20380-7, 14/01986-0)

MARTINS, LUCAS P.; STOUFFER, DANIEL B.; BLENDINGER, PEDRO G.; BOEHNING-GAESE, KATRIN; COSTA, JOSE MIGUEL; DEHLING, D. MATTHIAS; DONATTI, CAMILA I.; EMER, CARINE; GALETTI, MAURO; HELENO, RUBEN; et al. Birds optimize fruit size consumed near their geographic range limits. Science, v. 385, n. 6706, p. 6-pg., 2024-07-19. (15/15172-7, 08/10154-7, 21/10639-5, 22/09561-4, 14/01986-0, 16/18355-8)