Oral presentation- Open Session 12th International Mammalogical Congress

Landscape 2D and 3D metrics and mammals’ diversity in agricultural landscapes of Southeastern Brazil (#229)

Luciano M Verdade 1 , Bruna M Campos 1 , Jacob D Charters 1 , Lina Vásquez-Uribe 1 , Thiago S Marquez 2 , Carla Gheler-Costa 3 , Tatiane C Rech-Fernandes 4
  1. University of Sao Paulo, Piracicaba, Sao Paulo State, Brazil
  2. University of Sorocaba, Sorocaba, Sao Paulo State, Brazil
  3. Universidade do Sagrado Coração, Bauru, Sao Paulo State, Brazil
  4. Federal University of Sao Carlos, Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo State, Brazil

The relatively high abundance of small mammals appears tdo sustain a relatively high diversity of canids and felids in agricultural landscapes of southeastern Brazil. However, there is still little information on the possible causes of such abundance. In the present study, we surveyed medium to large mammals, respectively, by camera traps and small mammals by pitfall traps in 15 stations distributed over a sylvicultural landscape with Eucalyptus plantations as the matrix and native vegetation (a transition zone between Cerrado and Atlantic Forest) and abandoned pasture (five sampling units each) as conservation areas. The sampling design was based on a grid adapted from the Biodiversity Research Program (PPBio), where sampling units are 1 km distant from each other. The functional diversity of medium to large mammals has been affected by the landscape shape index, whereas taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of small mammals have been predominantly determined by the percentage of native vegetation, both 2D landscape metrics as they are basically related with area. However, their abundance has been determined by an indirect estimate of the native vegetation biomass (i.e. NDVI), which can be considered a 3D landscape metric as it is related to volume. Such patterns suggest land sharing and native vegetation recovery as best strategies to increase conservation value of agricultural landscapes. In addition, the present results support the use of native vegetation biomass as a proxy of small mammals’ abundance in agricultural landscapes.