Dietary expansion facilitates the persistence of a large frugivore in fragmented tropical forests

Author(s):Show less -

Magioli, Marcelo ^{[1, 2]} ; Villar, Nacho ^{[3, 4]} ; Jorge, Maria Luisa ^[5] ; Biondo, Cibele ^[6] ; Keuroghlian, Alexine ^[7] ; Bradham, Jennifer ^[8] ; Pedrosa, Felipe ^[9] ; Costa, Vladimir ^[10] ; Moreira, Marcelo Zacharias ^[11] ; Paschoaletto Micchi de Barros Ferraz, Katia Maria ^{[2, 12]} ; Galetti, Mauro ^{[13, 4]}

Affiliation:Show less -

^[1] Inst Chico Mendes Conservacao Biodiversidade ICMB, Ctr Nacl Pesquisa & Conservacao Mamiferos Carnivo, Atibaia, SP - Brazil

^[2] Inst Procarnivoros, Atibaia, SP - Brazil

^[3] Netherlands Inst Ecol, Dept Aquat Ecol, Wageningen - Netherlands

^[4] Univ Estadual Paulista UNESP, Inst Biocrencias, Dept Biodiversidade, Rio Claro, SP - Brazil

^[5] Vanderbilt Univ, Earth & Environm Sci, 221 Kirkland Hall, Nashville, TN 37235 - USA

^[6] Univ Fed ABC UFABC, Ctr Ciencias Nat & Humanas CCNH, Sao Bernardo Do Campo, SP - Brazil

^[7] Fundacao Neotrop Brasil, Peccary Project IUCN SSC Peccary Specialist Grp, Campo Grande, MS - Brazil

^[8] Wofford Coll, Dept Environm Studies, Spartanburg, SC - USA

^[9] Mao Mata Manejo & Solucoes Ambientais, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[10] Univ Estadual Paulista, Ctr Isotopos Estaveis, Inst Biociencias, Botucatu, SP - Brazil

^[11] Univ Sao Paulo, Ctr Energia Nucl Agr, Lab Ecol Isotop, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[12] Univ Sao Paulo, Escola Super Agr Luiz de Queiroz ESALQ, Dept Ciencias Florestais, Lab Ecol Manejo & Conservacao Fauna Silvestre LEM, Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[13] Univ Miami, Dept Biol, Coral Gables, FL 33124 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: ANIMAL CONSERVATION; DEC 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

How species persist in fragmented habitats is essential to understanding species resilience in response to increasing anthropogenic pressures. It has been suggested that expansion in dietary niche allows populations to persist in human-modified landscapes, yet this hypothesis has been poorly tested in highly diverse ecosystems such as tropical forests where frugivory is ubiquitous. Here, we measured dietary niche expansion of a large forest-dwelling mammal, the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil, by comparing its diet using stable carbon (delta C-13) and nitrogen (delta N-15) isotopes. We collected hair of white-lipped peccaries in three continuous and three fragmented forests and compared delta C-13 and delta N-15 values, resource use and isotopic niches among populations and between forest types. We also tested the relationship between isotopic values of the populations and the forest cover percentage. White-lipped peccaries fed mainly on forest sources (C-3 resources), especially in continuous forests, but 28% of the individuals in fragmented sites also incorporated C-4 resources to some extent. In fragmented forests, the populations had isotopic niches from 3- to 3.6-fold the size of those in continuous forests. This niche expansion was due to the consumption of food items with higher delta N-15 values and C-4 crops. Differences among populations were larger among fragmented forests, suggesting variable site-specific strategies to cope with habitat loss. The mean isotopic values of white-lipped peccary populations were negatively correlated with the loss of forest cover. Some small forest fragments might still retain relatively high habitat quality, and white-lipped peccaries might be able to capitalize on such variety of resources, shifting their diets from those observed in continuous forests. We suggest that high dietary flexibility and dietary expansion toward consumption of non-forest resources might facilitate the persistence of large frugivores in fragmented habitats. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/01986-0 - Ecological consequences of defaunation in the Atlantic Rainforest
• Grantee: Mauro Galetti Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 14/10192-7 - Trophic ecology of carnivorous mammals of the Atlantic Forest: use of stable isotope and functional diversity for conservation
• Grantee: Marcelo Magioli
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 14/50434-0 - Assessing ecosystem services of invasive fruits and frugivores
• Grantee: Mauro Galetti Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 16/15436-7 - Isotope ecology of neotropical ungulates in face of feral pig invasion
• Grantee: Felipe Pedrosa Chagas
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• FAPESP's process: 15/18381-6 - Reversing defaunation or increasing ecological degradation? Invasion ecology of feral pigs Sus scrofa in a defaunated landscape
• Grantee: Felipe Pedrosa Chagas
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• FAPESP's process: 15/11521-7 - Defaunated movement: the role of animal behaviour and spatial interactions in mediating trophic cascades, niche partitioning and community dynamics in the Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Jose Ignacio Fernandez de La Pradilla Villar
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 14/09300-0 - Trophic ecology, functional diversity and occurrence of terrestrial mammals in the Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Katia Maria Paschoaletto Micchi de Barros Ferraz
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants