Richness, taxonomic and functional diversity in a reforested area

• Grant number: 25/03111-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Adriano Garcia Chiarello
• Grantee: Anna Giulia Gonçalves Ferreira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Biodiversity has been greatly impacted by anthropogenic disturbances in the environment, which cause loss and degradation of natural habitats and pose a risk of extinction to a growing number of species. As a result, the need to restore degraded areas or recreate forests has become increasingly important and relevant. Fauna is an inseparable part of the ecosystem processes, essential to biodiversity, present in these areas. Among vertebrates, mammals can play different ecological roles and ecosystem services, and can occupy a variety of niches. In this way, analysing the richness and diversity of mammals in a reforestation area can provide important information about the stage of succession and the success of restoration. In this study, mammal species will be recorded using camera traps in a 20-year-old recreated forest (USP Forest), comparing the data with those from a forest remnant protected by a strictly protected ecological station located in the same region and the same watershed (Ribeirão Preto Ecological Station). The parameters of species richness, taxonomic diversity and functional diversity will be analysed, as these allow a better understanding of the successional stage of the recreated forest. Therefore, the study aims to identify the successional stage of a reforestation, contributing to increased information on the role of these areas in biodiversity conservation. (AU)