Anthropogenic predictors of biodiversity response to forest fragmentation in the Atlantic forest

• Grant number: 17/24252-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): March 01, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Mauro Galetti Rodrigues
• Grantee: Fernando Henrique Martin Gonçalves
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 14/01986-0 - Ecological consequences of defaunation in the Atlantic Rainforest, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/00648-7 - Extinction-driven changes on mammalian communities in the Atlantic Forest hotspots, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Humans have modified species distributions in most of the world's natural ecosystems. Body size variables is perhaps the most important trait of an organism, affecting all of its physiological and ecological processes and, therefore, fundamentally influencing its ability to survive and reproduce in different environments, including those that have been modified by human activities. Elucidating patterns in species responses to habitat fragmentation, one of the most several anthropogenic drivers of defaunation, is an important focus of ecology and conservation, but studies are often geographically restricted, taxonomically narrow or use indirect measures of species vulnerability. We will investigate (i) predictors of species presence after fragmentation using data from studies around one of the largest South American forests along the Brazilian coast and part of Argentina and Paraguay that included two vertebrate classes, birds and mammals, thus allowing direct inter-taxonomic comparison. We also will test the hypothesis that (ii) anthropogenic transformation of old-growth forest landscapes can result in significant intraspecific changes in body size of resident birds and mammals. By answering these questions, we aim to expand the knowledge on a cryptic, but crucial component of forest diversity and functioning, habitat fragmentation, in the hyper fragmented Atlantic rainforest, thereby providing a framework for better generalizations about how diverse wildlife will be differentially affected by such disturbance.

Scientific publications

(5)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

GONCALVES, FERNANDO; SALES, LILIAN P.; GALETTI, MAURO; PIRES, MATHIAS M.. Combined impacts of climate and land use change and the future restructuring of Neotropical bat biodiversity. PERSPECTIVES IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION, v. 19, n. 4, p. 454-463, OCT-DEC 2021. (17/24252-0, 19/25478-7, 19/00648-7)

FRAGOSO, JOSE M. V.; GONCALVES, FERNANDO; OLIVEIRA, LUIZ F. B.; OVERMAN, HAN; LEVI, TAAL; SILVIUS, KIRSTEN M.. Visual encounters on line transect surveys under-detect carnivore species: Implications for assessing distribution and conservation status. PLoS One, v. 14, n. 10, OCT 30 2019. (17/24252-0, 19/00648-7)

GONCALVES, FERNANDO; MAGIOLI, MARCELO; BOVENDORP, RICARDO S.; FERRAZ, KATIA M. P. M. B.; BULASCOSCHI, LETICIA; MOREIRA, MARCELO Z.; GALETTI, MAURO. Prey choice of introduced species by the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) on an Atlantic Forest land-bridge island. ACTA CHIROPTEROLOGICA, v. 22, n. 1, p. 8-pg., 2020-06-01. (19/00648-7, 17/24252-0, 14/01986-0)

GONCALVES, FERNANDO; GALETTI, MAURO; STREICKER, DANIEL G.. Management of vampire bats and rabies: a precaution for rewilding projects in the Neotropics. PERSPECTIVES IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION, v. 19, n. 1, p. 37-42, JAN-MAR 2021. (19/00648-7, 17/24252-0)

HAJI, JULIO; FERREGUETTI, ATILLA; BOVENDORP, RICARDO S.; BUENO, RAFAEL S.; GONCALVES, FERNANDO; GALETTI, MAURO. Long-term population trends of introduced mammals on an tropical island. GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION, v. 46, p. 10-pg., 2023-09-09. (19/00648-7, 17/24252-0, 14/01986-0)