Effects of habitat fragmentation on the persistence of medium and large mammal species in the Brazilian Savanna of Goiás State
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2018
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Resumo
Habitat loss and fragmentation are the main threats to the conservation of Cerrado biodiversity. The
objective of this study was to evaluate the implications of habitat loss on the persistence of medium and large
mammal species, considering the spatial and temporal changes (years 1985, 2000 and 2014) to the evaluated
fragments. The study was carried out in 14 fragments (10.5 – 618 ha), located in Southeastern Goiás, Brazil.
Records for 24 mammal species were obtained and revealed the two sites with the largest habitat amount in the
landscape contained higher species richness than the remaining sites. The three mammal groups based on body
mass (weight < 5 kg; weight between 5 and 20 kg; and weight > 20 kg) analyzed in this study showed different
responses regarding landscape changes. For larger mammals (between 5 - 20 kg and > 20 kg), there was significant
association between current species richness and the amount of habitat in 2014, while the species richness of
smaller mammals did not significantly correlate with any of the variables assessed for any of the years. Therefore,
the amount of habitat present within the current landscape was the most important variable regarding mammal
species richness, especially for the larger species. The time lag was not evident at the time scale evaluated, and
this delay in response may have occurred in a relatively short time (< 15 years). For the remaining fragments in the
studied landscapes, most are too small to support populations of some larger mammal species and may also leave
individuals more vulnerable to anthropogenic actions (e.g. hunting), whose effects may accelerate local extinctions.
Keywords: Biodiversity conservation, Landscape ecology, Mammal fauna, Species richness.
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Conservação da biodiversidade, Biodiversity conservation, Ecologia de paisagem, Riqueza de espécies, Mastofauna, Landscape ecology, Mammal fauna, Species richness
Citação
ROCHA, Ednaldo Cândido et al. Effects of habitat fragmentation on the persistence of medium and large mammal species in the Brazilian Savanna of Goiás State. Biota Neotropica, Campinas, v. 18, n. 3, e20170483, 2018.