Extinction-driven changes on mammalian communities in the Atlantic Forest hotspots

• Grant number: 19/00648-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Effective date (Start): April 10, 2019
• Effective date (End): March 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Mauro Galetti Rodrigues
• Grantee: Fernando Henrique Martin Gonçalves
• Supervisor: Andrew Balmford
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Research place: University of Cambridge, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/24252-0 - Anthropogenic predictors of biodiversity response to forest fragmentation in the Atlantic forest, BP.PD

Abstract

The biodiversity crisis that threatens the planet can be considered the sixth major extinction event and understanding the relationship between changes in human pressures and the decline of mammalian species is necessary for identifying those species at highest risk, and for prioritizing the actions and policies required to combat their decline. The first aim of this proposal is to quantify the magnitude of mammals defaunation (including volant and non-volant species) when analyzed at the community level in the Atlantic forest of South America and to correlate with Global Terrestrial Human footprint (HFP). We hypothesize that levels of defaunation across the Atlantic Forest are elevated at regions with higher HFP and more defaunated regions overlap densely-settled coastal zones. The second aim of this proposal is to understand how human-made extinctions and human modification of distributions affects the frequency distributions of mammal body masses. We hypothesize that the predominant loss of large-bodied species increase the ecological downsizing effect and body size reduction at the community level. We will use contemporary distributions (Atlantic-series) versus estimated distributions in the absence of Anthropogenic impact (based in the climate niche) to identify which mammal communities are most defaunated and to correlate with HFP. We also will assess the ecological downsizing effect by quantifying extinction-driven changes in community-level mean and maximum body mass for all mammalian communities with recorded extinction events. This research will contribute for to understand the effects of human-made disturbances, on mammal persistence and abundance is one of the regions with the highest diversity and endemism of mammals in the world. (AU)

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; 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)

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; 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)