MAMMAL RICHNESS AND FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY IN URBAN FRAGMENTS OF SEMIDECIDUOUS SEASONAL FOREST IN SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Authors

  • Thiago Ribas Bella Universidade Estadual de Campinas
  • Paulo Roberto de Lima Bittencourt Universidade Estadual de Campinas
  • Eleonore Zulnara Freire Setz Universidade Estadual de Campinas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24278/2178-5031.202234107

Keywords:

Forest fragmentation, Ecosystem services, Atlantic Forest

Abstract

One of the main consequences of forest fragmentation is the loss of seed dispersers such as birds and larger mammals. The absence of these dispersers can lead to changes in the vegetation composition, promoting the replacement by plants dispersed by smaller animals or even by wind or water. Most diversity indices (e.g., richness) ignore essential features of the species and do not capture the complexity of the entire process. To capture this complexity, we studied forest fragmentation from the perspective of functional diversity (FD), focusing on nonflying mammals in Atlantic Forest areas of different sizes. We compared the FD index of Petchey and Gaston (2002) using non-flying mammal surveys and species trophic attributes for three regions of different sizes in southeastern Brazil: Serra do Japi (35,400 ha), Ribeirão Cachoeira (230 ha), and small fragments at Itatiba-SP (9 ha). Our findings suggest that total FD and richness are positively related to fragment size; however, there seems to be a limit for total FD per species in each fragment. Moreover, the presence of Leopardus guttulus in a fragment much smaller than its home range contributes to its FD and reinforces the relevance of connectivity across fragments. We conclude that both the size of the fragment and its connectivity influence FD and both should be considered essential parameters when planning public policies to ensure the species permanence and continued ecosystem services.

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Published

2022-06-15

How to Cite

BELLA, Thiago Ribas; BITTENCOURT, Paulo Roberto de Lima; SETZ, Eleonore Zulnara Freire. MAMMAL RICHNESS AND FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY IN URBAN FRAGMENTS OF SEMIDECIDUOUS SEASONAL FOREST IN SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL. Journal of the Forest Institute , São Paulo, v. 34, n. 1, p. 81–90, 2022. DOI: 10.24278/2178-5031.202234107. Disponível em: https://rif.emnuvens.com.br/revista/article/view/44. Acesso em: 19 jul. 2025.

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Scientific Articles