PREDICTORS OF VERTEBRATE FRUGIVORE SPECIES RICHNESS AND COMPOSITION IN INTENSIFIED BIOFUEL AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES

• Grant number: 25/00825-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 30, 2025
• End date: August 29, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Adriano Garcia Chiarello
• Grantee: Felipe Ferreira Pierossi
• Supervisor: Carlos Augusto da Silva Peres
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of East Anglia (UEA), England
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/07455-8 - LANDSCAPE COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE AS PREDICTORS OF RICHNESS AND COMPOSITION OF FRUGIVORE VERTEBRATE ASSEMBLIES IN THE CERRADO UNDER INTENSE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, BP.IC

Abstract

In the Modern Era, anthropogenic disturbance has been the direct driver of a series of species extinctions from a wide range of ecological guilds and phylogenetic clades, highlighting a global diversity crisis. In Brazil, relentless agribusiness expansion is the main threat to the preservation of natural heritage, especially in already highly fragmented biomes, such as the Atlantic Forest, or poorly protected, such as the Cerrado scrublands. The status of native vegetation remnants in both biomes in the state of São Paulo is extremely critical, as their total area is smaller than that of sugarcane monoculture. In the north-central region of the state, historically considered a transition area between the two biomes, the situation is even worse, where only 15,000 hectares are strictly protected, with sugarcane dominating 41 to 51 % of the region. However, degraded areas have the potential for passive regeneration, which is extremely dependent on vertebrate frugivores, and therefore necessitating an understanding of how these species respond to landscape structure. This study therefore aims to analyze data on the occurrence of frugivorous mammals and birds in landscapes affected, to varying degrees, by agribusiness and human occupation, exploring patterns of species richness and dissimilarity between assemblages, investigating the influence of structure variables and composition of landscapes in these patterns. Using field data acquisition funded by FAPESP, this project seeks to better understand the effects of anthropogenic drivers on the local biodiversity of frugivorous vertebrates in Cerrado remnants embedded within sugarcane agriculture.