Diversity profiles of medium and large-size mammals in an Atlantic Forest remnant: seasonal and spatial patterns

ABSTRACT

Mammal populations are declining due to habitat fragmentation and loss, but protected areas can maintain these populations at viable numbers and reduce their risk of extinction. This study assessed the mammal community composition, diversity profiles, seasonal variation, and habitat use in a protected area in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. With an effort of 5,023 camera trap days, we registered 1,889 independent records of 20 species, with an additional 13 species recorded through direct observation. There was no difference in the seasonal diversity profiles of mammal communities. The diversity in submontane areas was consistently larger than in lowland ones, but the number of records was higher in lowland areas. The diversity profiles decrease when more weight is given to the common species. The reserve is the protected area with the third highest mammal richness in the state of Rio de Janeiro and harbors 11 threatened mammals. This study shows the importance of small protected areas for the conservation of mammalian diversity in a fragmented anthropogenic landscape.

KEYWORDS:

• Protected areas
• community ecology
• camera-traps
• common species

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank W. Costa-Jr (RBU administrator), G. C. Kristosch, I. Moura and R. Aguilar for support and aid in the field work. M. M. Morais-Jr provided invaluable assistance with planning and executing fieldwork. Associação Mico Leão Dourado provided GPS data for trails and shape files for the Reserve.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

No approval of research ethics committees was required to accomplish the goals of this study.

Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collections were performed by Luana Burg Mayer, Breno Mellado, Marcelo R. Nogueira and Leandro R. Monteiro. Data analyses were performed by Leandro R. Monteiro and Luana Burg Mayer. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Luana Burg Mayer and Leandro R. Monteiro and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript adding intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01650521.2023.2180198

Additional information

Funding

This was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (BRASIL-CAPES) (finance code – 001); Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq); and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ). L. B. Mayer and B. Mellado receive a PHD scholarship from CAPES (finance code - 001) and M.R. Nogueira received a post-doctoral fellowship from CAPES.