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opencc-zeroNov 2019View details →

Data from: Seed-dispersal networks in tropical forest fragments: area effects, remnant species, and interaction diversity

Seed dispersal interactions involve key ecological processes in tropical forests that help to maintain ecosystem functioning. Yet this functionality may be threatened by increasing habitat loss, defaunation and fragmentation. However, generalist species, and their interactions, can benefit from the habitat change caused by human disturbance while more specialized interactions mostly disappear. Therefore changes in the structure of the local, within fragment, networks can be expected. Here we investigated how the structure of seed-dispersal networks changes along a gradient of increasing habitat fragmentation. We analysed 16 bird seed-dispersal assemblages from forest fragments of a biodiversity-rich ecosystem. We found significant species-, interaction- and network-area relationships, yet the later was determined by the number of species remaining in each community. The number of frugivorous bird and plant species, their interactions, and the number of links per species decreases as area is lost in the fragmented landscape. In contrast, network nestedness has a negative relationship with fragment area, suggesting an increasing generalization of the network structure in the gradient of fragmentation. Network specialization was not significantly affected by area, indicating that some network properties may be invariant to disturbance. Still, the local extinction of partner species, paralleled by a loss of interactions and specialist-specialist bird-plant seed dispersal associations suggests the functional homogenization of the system as area is lost. Our study provides empirical evidence for network-area relationships driven by the presence/absence of remnant species and the interactions they perform.

Figure 4 in Notes on the bionomy of two spider wasp species in an urban forest fragment in Brazil

Figure 4. Nest of Auplopus cf. brasiliensis. The third cell broke during handling. Note the arrangement of the cells forming a cluster, the papillated surface suggesting the employment of several mud pellets to construct the cells. Scale bar = 0.5 cm.

Figure 1 in Notes on the bionomy of two spider wasp species in an urban forest fragment in Brazil

Figure 1. (A) Female of Auplopus cf. rufipes. Scale bar = 1 mm. (B) Male of Auplopus cf. brasiliensis. Scale bar = 3 mm.

Figure 3 in Notes on the bionomy of two spider wasp species in an urban forest fragment in Brazil

Figure 3. Development stages of Auplopus cf. rufipes. (A) Larva almost entirely developed feeding on a spider. Scale bar = 0.5 cm. (B) Larva probably in its third instar feeding. Scale bar = 0.5 cm. (C) Second instar larva. Scale bar = 0.5 cm. (D) Prey tightly trapped in the brood cell and egg placed on its opistosoma. Scale bar = 0.5 cm. (E) Egg in detail. Scale bar = 0.1 cm. (F) Last cell built with the prey and the egg placed on it. Scale bar = 0.5 cm.

Figure 2 in Notes on the bionomy of two spider wasp species in an urban forest fragment in Brazil

Figure 2. Nest of Auplopus cf. rufipes. (A) Arrangement of cells inside the trap nest. Scale bar = 1 cm. (B) Nest in profile showing an overlay on the first cell and the cells leaning. Scale bar = 1 cm. (C) Cell lip-shaped structure before provision. Scale bar = 0.5 cm. (D) Brood cells glued together, one of them with an emergence hole. Scale bar = 0.5 cm.

opencc-zeroJul 2019View details →

Data from: Assessing the influence of biotic, abiotic, and social factors on the physiological stress of a large Neotropical primate in Atlantic Forest fragments

Wildlife physiological responses to environmental and human-related stressors provide useful clues on animal welfare. Non-invasive biomarkers, such as fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCM), allow researchers to assess whether variations in habitat quality, behavior, and climate influence the animals' physiological stress. We examined the role of fragment size, ambient temperature, ripe fruit availability and consumption, percentage of records moving, sex, female reproductive state, and group composition as predictors of the level of fGCM in adult brown howler monkeys (Alouatta guariba clamitans) inhabiting three small (<10 ha) and three large (>90 ha) Atlantic Forest fragments in southern Brazil. We collected bimonthly behavioral data and fecal samples from adult individuals over three years, and used a multimodel inference framework to identify the main predictors of fGCM. We found that the mean (±SD) fGCM in the study groups ranged from 57 ± 49 ng/g to 93 ± 58 ng/g, which were within the known range for howler monkeys. We found 10 best models including five of the 17 tested variables. Sex and reproductive state were the only variables included in all these models. We found that fGCM was higher in nursing females (mean ± SD = 104 ± 73 ng/g) than in non-nursing females (64 ± 55 ng/g) and males (53 ± 40 ng/g, P < 0.05) and that it decreased with increasing ripe fruit consumption and minimum temperature. However, fragment size did not predict fGCM concentration (groups in small fragments = 71 ± 58 ng/g vs. groups in large fragments = 63 ± 54 ng/g, P > 0.05). We conclude that factors related to the energetic balance of individuals play major roles in modulating the physiological stress of brown howler monkeys. Future studies should investigate the consequences of higher levels of stress hormones on howler monkey health and demography.

opencc-zeroFeb 2020View details →

Disentangling drivers of small mammal diversity in a highly fragmented forest system

The Atlantic Forest is the second most diverse forest system in South America and only a fraction of its original distribution remains. In this study, we aim to use robust datasets of small mammals along the entire forest system to disentangle the main drivers for diversity along this gradient. More specifically we aim to disentangle if deforestation (recent), biogeographical variables, including 19 bioclimatic variables (historic), or historical trapping bias best describe patterns of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversities using small mammal assembles, from northeastern Brazil to eastern Paraguay. For that, we applied regression tree analyses to determine what environmental variables best describe each of the dimensions of diversity. Additionally, we implemented polynomial regression to test non-linear relationships between biodiversity metrics and patch size. We found that patterns of overall taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversities; rodent taxonomic diversity; and marsupial functional diversity were better explained by temperature variables. Meanwhile, marsupial taxonomic and phylogenetic diversities; and rodent functional and phylogenetic diversities were best explained by precipitation variables. Furthermore, patch area, trapping, and latitude were never the best descriptors for any of the diversity dimensions. Although all dimensions of biodiversity are correlated, they have unique information and should be considered individually to better understand biodiversity and inform conservation strategies. We found that fragmentation is impactful at a local scale and becomes less important at a biogeographical scale. Therefore, climatic variables drove biogeographical faunal patterns for all clades, probably reflecting important historical assembly process at large spatial scales.

opencc-zeroJan 2024View details →

Data from: Intraspecific leaf trait variation mediates edge effects on litter decomposition rate in fragmented forests

There is strong trait dependence in species-level responses to environmental change and their cascading effects on ecosystem functioning. However, there is little understanding of whether intraspecific trait variation (ITV) can also be an important mechanism mediating environmental effects on ecosystem functioning. This is surprising, given that global change processes such as habitat fragmentation and the creation of forest edges drive strong trait shifts within species. On 20 islands in the Thousand Island Lake, China, we quantified intraspecific leaf trait shifts of a widely distributed shrub species, Vaccinium carlesii, in response to habitat fragmentation. Using a reciprocal transplant decomposition experiment between forest edge and interior on 11 islands with varying areas, we disentangled the relative effects of intraspecific leaf trait variation vs. altered environmental conditions on leaf decomposition rates in forest fragments. We found strong intraspecific variation in leaf traits in response to edge effects, with a shift towards recalcitrant leaves with low specific leaf area and high leaf dry matter content from forest interior to the edge. Using structural equation modelling, we showed that such intraspecific leaf trait response to habitat fragmentation had translated into significant plant afterlife effects on leaf decomposition, leading to decreased leaf decomposition rates from the forest interior to the edge. Importantly, the effects of intraspecific leaf trait variation were additive to and stronger than the effects from local environmental changes due to edge effects and habitat loss. Our experiment provides the first quantitative study showing that intraspecific leaf trait response to edge effects is an important driver of the decrease in leaf decomposition rate in fragmented forests. By extending the trait-based response-effect framework towards the individual level, intraspecific variation in leaf economics traits can provide the missing functional link between environmental change and ecological processes. These findings suggest an important area for future research on incorporating ITV to understand and predict changes in ecosystem functioning in the context of global change.

opencc-by-nc-4.0Nov 2022View details →

Figure 4 in Natural regeneration in Atlantic Forest Fragments: using ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) for monitoring a conservation unit

Figure 4. Camponotus cillae recorded for the RPPN Botujuru: (A) front view; (B) dorsal view; (C) side view.

opencc-zeroMar 2024View details →

The comparative effects of landscape-level forest fragmentation, forest area and local habitat measures on Connecticut bird communities

I studied how breeding and wintering forest bird communities across Connecticut responded to variation in habitat characteristics and particularly such landscape attributes as forest fragmentation. I surveyed birds at 1,815 points along 121 transects that traversed ca. 400 km of forest. I also made 12705 habitat measurements at survey points and computed areas of forest, non-forest, core forest and perimeter/area ratios of forest for 31,550 ha of study area. I computed sampled species richness and community density as well as individual species' population densities for each transect. Moreover, I classified species encountered as to their nest site selection, macrohabitat use, microhabitat use, migratory strategy and trophic affiliation. Based on observations of 36,702 summering individuals of 123 species and 13,742 wintering individuals of 63 species, declines in community density occurred with increasing fragmentation although species richness was often more closely associated with habitat measures. Among landscape measures, forest fragmentation had the closest association with summer community measures 67% of the time, strongly suggesting that fragmentation effects were the predominant driver of such community patterns. However, short-distance migrant density and richness, foraging generalist density and richness, edge/successional species density and richness, habitat generalist density, and Brown-headed Cowbird density showed little relationship to landscape measures. The effects of fragmentation appeared to predominate over those of simply forest extent in predicting summer and winter bird community characteristics even in the comparatively extensive forests of southern New England. Despite the importance of fragmentation effects, community and individual species measures often tended to be more closely associated with habitat measures than with those of fragmentation. In addition, few summer or winter community measures or species patterns showed any significant relationship to natural forest breaks. Winter community and species density patterns showed little relationship to any landscape measures, with particularly elevation appearing to be a principal driver of winter patterns.

openother-openMay 2022View details →

Supplementary Materials: Use of Sentinel 2 imagery to estimate vegetation height in fragments of Atlantic Forest

Supplementary materials for the paper: Use of Sentinel 2 imagery to estimate vegetation height in fragments of Atlantic Forest Paper DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2022.101680">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2022.101680</a> This release is the one used for the definitive version of the article.

Figure 6 in High richness of non-volant mammals in a seasonal forest fragment in southeastern Brazil

Figure 6. Cluster analysis of medium and large mammal communities' similarity between 19 Atlantic Forest remnants in São Paulo, southeastern Brazil (including a single remnant in Paraná, Brazil). AGPE = Água do Peão; AGUA = Aguapeí State Park; AMBO = Amadeu Botelho Private Nature Reserve; CBSP = Carlos Botelho State Park; COSM = Matão de Cosmópolis; ESAL = Estrela da Alcídia Água Sumida; ISP = Intervales State Park; LUNO = Lua Nova; MATU = Maturi; MDSP = Morro do Diabo State Park; MGFR = Morro Grande Forest Reserve; PBES = Ponte Branca (Black Lion Tamarin Ecological Station); SBNP = Serra da Bocaina National Park; SEIR = Seis R; SMES = Santa Maria Água Sumida (Black Lion Tamarin Ecological Station); SMA = Santa Maria Forest; STMO = Santa Mônica; TUES = Tucano (Black Lion Tamarin Ecological Station).

Figure 5 in High richness of non-volant mammals in a seasonal forest fragment in southeastern Brazil

Figure 5. Carnivora, Artiodactlya, and Perissodactyla recorded in Santa Maria fragment. (A) Puma concolor; (B) Leopardus pardalis; (C) Panthera onca; (D) Cerdocyon thous; (E) Chrysocyon brachyurus; (F) Mazama rufa; (G) Dicotyles tajacu; (H) Tapirus terrestris.

Figure 7 in High richness of non-volant mammals in a seasonal forest fragment in southeastern Brazil

Figure 7. Scatterplot of non-volant mammal species richness according to fragment area in 14 Atlantic Forest fragments of Pontal do Paranapanema, São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil. The study site, Santa Maria is represented by a blue triangle. AGPE = Água do Peão; ARIZ = Fazenda Arizona; ASES = Água Sumida (Black Lion Tamarin Ecological Station); ESAL = Estrela da Alcídia; LUNO = Lua Nova; MATU = Maturi; MDSP = Morro do Diabo State Park; NOPO = Nova Pontal; PBES = Ponte Branca (Black Lion Tamarin Ecological Station); SASE = São Sebastião; SEIR = Seis R; STMO = Santa Mônica; TUES = Tucano (Black Lion Tamarin Ecological Station).

Figure 1 in High richness of non-volant mammals in a seasonal forest fragment in southeastern Brazil

Figure 1. Santa Maria forest fragment and its location in Pontal do Paranapanema, São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. Note the small creek (Ribeirão Água Sumida) that passes on its southern edges and the SPV-035 road along its northeastern edge. Green are native forest remnants and blue are the rivers and creeks.

Figure 4 in High richness of non-volant mammals in a seasonal forest fragment in southeastern Brazil

Figure 4. Didelphidae, Xenarthra, Primates and Rodentia recorded in Santa Maria fragment. (A) Marmosa paraguayana; (B) Didelphis albiventris; (C) Gracilinanus microtarsus; (D) Euphractus sexcinctus; (E) Dasypus novemcinctus (preyed); (F) Tamandua tetradactyla; (G) Sapajus nigritus; (H) Leontopithecus chrysopygus; (I) Dasyprocta azarae; J) Oecomys cleberi.

Figure 3 in High richness of non-volant mammals in a seasonal forest fragment in southeastern Brazil

Figure 3. Locations of the 18 medium and large mammal inventories (green dots) that were compared to the mammal community of Santa Maria forest fragment (red square). Atlantic Forest remnants (sensu Ribeiro et al., 2009), are in light gray. AGPE = Água do Peão (Ditt et al., 1999); AGUA = Aguapeí State Park (Faria & Pires, 2010); AMBO = Amadeu Botelho Private Nature Reserve (Reale et al., 2014); CBSP = Carlos Botelho State Park (Brocardo et al., 2012); COSM = Matão de Cosmópolis (Magioli et al., 2014); ESAL = Estrela da Alcídia Água Sumida (Ditt et al., 1999); ISP = Intervales State Park (de Vivo & Gregorin, 2001); LUNO = Lua Nova (Ditt et al., 1999); MATU = Maturi (Ditt et al., 1999); MDSP = Morro do Diabo State Park (Faria & Pires, 2006); MGFR = Morro Grande Forest Reserve (Negrão & Valladares-Pádua, 2006); PBES = Ponte Branca (Black Lion Tamarin Ecological Station) (Valladares-Pádua, 2007); SBNP = Serra da Bocaina National Park (Delciellos et al., 2012); SEIR = Seis R (Ditt et al., 1999); SMES = Santa Maria Água Sumida (Black Lion Tamarin Ecological Station) (Valladares-Pádua, 2007); SMA = Santa Maria Forest (this study); STMO = Santa Mônica (Ditt et al., 1999); TUES = Tucano (Black Lion Tamarin Ecological Station) (Valladares-Pádua, 2007).

opencc-zeroMay 2024View details →

Data from: Can faster growth compensate for increased mortality in subtropical dry forest fragments?

Capturing the effects of fragmentation and ongoing changing climate on the population dynamics of long-lived trees requires long-term datasets, but these are uncommon in rainforests and dry forests outside of the tropics. This study capitalised on nine 0.04-ha permanent plots established in 1982 within corridors of old-growth subtropical dry forest (Araucarian vine forest) retained as fire breaks within forestry plantations in Imbil (southern Queensland, Australia). Tree diameter growth and survival were censused in 1997 and 2021, resulting in two monitoring periods. The most recent period was associated with an increasing trend in vapour-pressure deficit (VPD). Consistent with this trend, we found that survival was substantially lower across all size classes in the second period. Mortality-induced reductions in stem density were associated with faster growth rates in all but the largest stems in the second period. Growth was also moderately faster in plots near forest edges in the second period. The richness of obligate understory species declined significantly by an average of 1.44 species over the 40-year study period. Synthesis and applications: Overall, our results are consistent with increasing tree mortality rates reported recently for the Australian wet tropics and suggest widespread and alarming impacts of increasing VPD on rainforest and dry forest community dynamics. To increase forest resilience in a changing climate, we recommend the retention of a buffer of plantation trees adjacent to old growth forest corridors; widening the forest corridors using faster-growing species identified in this study and maintaining connections between scrub breaks and larger tracts of forest for species dispersal.

opencc-by-4.0May 2024View details →

Data and code from: Neighborhood habitat gains increase plant species richness in forest fragments - Rosenblad & Sullivan (2024)

This repository contains all data and R code necessary to reproduce the results of Rosenblad & Sullivan (2024) Neighborhood habitat gains increase plant species richness in forest fragments. README.md explains how the files fit together.