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Context: Declining in biodiversity in the Anthropocene is mostly a result of habitat loss due to changes in the landscape. Objectives: Here, we address how landscape composition and configuration affect anuran diversity in agricultural landscapes in the Brazilian Cerrado ecoregion. Methods: We sampled 29 breeding sites during the rainy season using auditory census and visual encounters to record anuran species richness, and specialist, generalist and dominant species richness. For each sampling site, we estimated eight landscape metrics at five spatial scales. Results: We recorded 36 species from seven anuran families, 17 habitat specialist and 19 habitat generalists. We found that aquatic habitat cover (%) and number of aquatic patches played a positive effect on both total anuran richness and richness of dominant species. However, landscape compositional heterogeneity and aquatic habitat isolation negatively influenced community rarity, and abundance of habitat specialist species. In addition, more diverse anuran communities were found in areas where the amount and number of aquatic habitat patches were greater. Conclusions: Our results emphasize the importance of maintaining high amounts of waterbodies and high aquatic habitat connectivity across the landscapes. Moreover, rare species and habitat specialist species are sensitive to landscape composition and configuration, respectively. Therefore, water body amount and connectivity must be considered in conservation plans to mitigate anuran community loss in agricultural landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and habitat loss have been identified as the main causes of species extinction. Forest regeneration and protected areas are essential to buffer climate change impacts and to ensure quality habitats for threatened species. We assessed the current and future environmental suitability for the maned sloth, Bradypus torquatus , under both future climate and forest restoration scenarios, using ecological niche modeling. We compared environmental suitability for two Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUnorth and ESUsouth) using two climate change scenarios for 2070, and three potential forest regeneration scenarios. Likewise, we evaluated the protection degree of the suitable areas resulting from the models, according to Brazilian law: PA—Protected Areas; PPA—Permanent Protection Areas (environmentally sensitive areas in private properties); and LR—Legal Reserves (natural vegetation areas in private properties). Finally, we calculated the deficit of PPA and LR in each ESU, considering the current forest cover. Forest regeneration might mitigate the deleterious effects of climate change by maintaining and increasing environmental suitability in future scenarios. The ESUnorth contains more suitable areas (21,570 km²) than the ESUsouth (12,386 km²), with an increase in all future scenarios (up to 45,648 km² of new suitable areas), while ESUsouth might have a significant decrease (up to 7,546 km² less). Suitable areas are mostly unprotected (ESUnorth—65.5% and ESUsouth—58.3%). Therefore, PPA and PA can maintain only a small portion of current and future suitable areas. Both ESUs present a high deficit of PPA and LR, highlighting the necessity to act in the recovery of these areas to accomplish a large-scale restoration, mitigate climate change effects, and achieve, at least, a minimum forested area to safeguard the species. Notwithstanding, a long-term conservation of B. torquatus will benefit from forest regeneration besides those minimum requirements, allied to the protection of forest areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loss of biodiversity comprehends not only the extinction of individual species, but also the loss of the ecological interactions among them. Survival of species, continuation of ecosystem functioning in nature, and ecosystem services to humans depend on the maintenance of well-functioning networks of species interactions (e.g. plant–pollinator networks and food webs). Analyses of ecological networks often rely on biased and incomplete survey data, especially in species-rich areas, such as the tropics. We used a network inference method to reconstruct pollination data compiled from a large tropical rainforest habitat extent. To gain insight into the characteristics of plant–pollinator interactions across the region, we combined the reconstructed pollination network with species distribution modelling to obtain local pollination networks throughout the area. We explored how global network properties relate to natural forest cover and land cover heterogeneity. We found that some network properties (the sum and evenness of link weights, connectance and nestedness) are positively correlated with forest cover, indicating that networks in sites with more natural habitat have greater diversity of interactions. Modularity was not related to forest cover, but seemed to reflect habitat heterogeneity, due to the broad spatial scale of the study. We believe that the methodology suggested here can facilitate the use of incomplete network data in a reliable way and allow us to better understand and protect networks of species interactions in high biodiversity regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landscape changes in tropical environments result in long-lasting and complex changes in biodiversity that involve several biological responses (e.g., loss of species diversity and functional diversity). Both taxonomic and functional diversity might respond differently to land-use change, and this response might also vary depending on several factors, such as the taxonomic group or landscape context. Even though each level of diversity expresses different properties of the community structure, studies characterizing the species community in human-dominated landscapes have often only focused on patterns involving taxonomic diversity. Here, we evaluated different descriptors of taxonomic (i.e., richness, diversity, and dominance) and functional entropy (i.e., richness, diversity, and redundancy) and the taxonomic and functional composition of ants in a forest cover gradient (%) in 16 highly fragmented tropical humid forest landscapes in Mexico. We found that all descriptors of taxonomic diversity decreased along a gradient of forest loss. Furthermore, functional redundancy was the only component of functional diversity that was positively associated with forest cover (%). These findings suggest an ecological backup of functions provided by species in landscapes with higher forest cover, protecting these landscapes against habitat disturbance or species loss. We also observed that landscapes with larger forest cover were inhabited by ant species with larger interocular distances and smaller femurs, which could allow predator ants the exploitation of ground cracks and higher mobility in leaf-litter microhabitats. Our results highlight the importance of the primary forest as a reservoir of the taxonomic and functional diversity of ants in highly fragmented tropical rainforest landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Dispersal is a crucial process for species persistence under natural and disturbed landscapes. The effectiveness of stepping stones as a connectivity strategy for increasing dispersal success depends on landscape structure and animal behaviour, such as the perceptual range. Objectives: We quantify the relative contribution of stepping stones (small fragments and scattered trees) to dispersal success considering interactions with perceptual range, habitat amount and configuration. Methods: We develop an individual-based model (IBM) to simulate the dispersal movement of small mammals. The model is parametrized using empirical estimates of perceptual range and movement properties (turning angles and steps length). Simulations are implemented in landscapes with varying gradients of habitat amount and clumpiness, with and without the presence of stepping stones. Results: Small patches and scattered trees combined, or only scattered trees, have a positive effect on dispersal. Meanwhile, the presence of only small patches has negative effects on dispersal. Habitat amount positively influences dispersal, which decreases abruptly when the habitat amount is less than 20%. This threshold disappears in the presence of stepping stones. In landscapes with intermediate levels of habitat amount, landscape fragmentation (low clumpiness) has a positive effect on dispersal success. Conclusions: Stepping stones, especially scattered trees, are a fundamental connectivity strategy for the conservation of small non-flying vertebrates in human-modified landscapes, particularly landscapes with less than 20% of habitat amount. However, small patches stepping stones may act as ecological traps leading the individuals to dead-ends. Their effectiveness in improving dispersal depends on both landscape structure and perceptual range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: An understanding of species-habitat relationships is required to assess the impacts of habitat fragmentation and degradation. To date, habitat modeling in fragmented landscapes has relied on landscape composition and configuration metrics and the importance of habitat quality in determining species distributions has not been sufficiently explored. Objectives: We evaluated how habitat use by herbivores and frugivorous mammals is shaped by a potential interaction of habitat amount and quality in the Brazilian Pantanal wetland. We also assessed if the contribution of habitat quality to species´ habitat use varies according to the species sensitivity to habitat loss. Methods: We combined mammal detection data obtained from camera traps with thematic maps to estimate the amount of habitat and measured habitat quality using local environment variables and distance to waterbodies. Specifically, we used a single-season occupancy approach to evaluate the relative support of univariate, additive, and interactive relationships between species-specific habitat use and measures of habitat quality and quantity. Results: Habitat quality was more important than habitat amount in determining species habitat use (occupancy) in a naturally fragmented landscape. Habitat quality alone was the best predictor of habitat use for two of the six species (white lipped peccary and collared peccary), but no species' habitat use was explained solely by habitat amount. Habitat amount was influential only when considered in conjunction with habitat quality covariates and only for two sensitive species to habitat loss (agouti and red brocket deer). Habitat quality alone was the best predictor of habitat use for two of the less sensitive species (white lipped peccary and collared peccary). Habitat use for two species was not explained by any covariate (tapir and gray brocket deer). Conclusions: Conservation programs should incorporate both habitat quality and amount when dealing with sensitive species and prioritize habitat quality management when focusing in less sensitive species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Land-use changes impact biodiversity, and biofuel crop production and its expansion pose as an important driver of negative effects in the tropics. Understanding the influence of land-use changes on suitable habitats for species is a worldwide conservation challenge, particularly on large-sized mammals. We modeled habitat suitability of the threatened giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) in the Brazilian State of São Paulo. The region is the most populous and economically developed of the country and is the world's main sugarcane production area. We aimed to 1) map habitat suitability for the giant anteater population in the State; 2) assess the contributions of selected landscape and anthropogenic predictors to species habitat suitability; and 3) quantify suitable habitats in environmental protection areas and in areas threatened by the sugarcane expansion. We used a two-step analysis: First, we created a suitability map in the species' distributional range (Drange); from this map, we extracted the results for São Paulo State. Second, we built a regional model to predict the current scenario of São Paulo using the following environmental layers: 1) the resulting distributional range map for giant anteater (Drange); 2) landscape metrics; and 3) anthropogenic factors that might affect anteaters. The State of São Paulo presented, in general, very low values of habitat suitability. The following predictors made the greatest contribution: Drange, vegetation connectivity and distance to protected areas. Suitable habitats for anteaters within strictly protected areas are very scarce (1.6% of the total area), and 22% of the suitable areas are expected to be altered by future sugarcane expansion. Suitable habitats on private lands must play a role in conserving biodiversity. Mudanças no uso da terra têm impactos na biodiversidade e a produção e a expansão de biocombustíveis representam um importante fator de efeitos negativos nos trópicos. Compreender a influência das mudanças no uso da terra em hábitats adequados para as espécies é um desafio conservacionista mundial, particularmente para mamíferos de grande porte. Para avaliar tal influência, modelamos a adequabilidade de hábitat do ameaçado tamanduá-bandeira (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) no Estado brasileiro de São Paulo. A região é a mais populosa e economicamente desenvolvida do país e é a principal área de produção de cana-de-açúcar do mundo. Nossos objetivos foram: 1) mapear a adequabilidade de hábitat para a população de tamanduás-bandeira no estado de São Paulo; 2) avaliar a contribuição dos principais preditores à adequabilidade de hábitat para a espécie; e 3) quantificar hábitats adequados em áreas de proteção ambiental e em áreas ameaçadas pela expansão da cana-de-açúcar. Usamos uma análise em duas etapas: primeiro, criamos um mapa de adequabilidade na área de distribuição da espécie (Drange); a partir dele, extraímos os resultados para o estado de São Paulo. Segundo, construímos um modelo regional para predizer o cenário atual de São Paulo usando as seguintes camadas ambientais: 1) mapa resultante da adequabilidade na distribuição geográfica da espécie para o recorte estadual, 2) métricas de paisagem e, 3) camadas antrópicas. O estado de São Paulo apresentou, em geral, valores muito baixos de adequabilidade de hábitat. Os seguintes preditores deram as maiores contribuições: Drange, conectividade de vegetação e distância às áreas protegidas. Hábitats adequados para tamanduás-bandeira dentro de áreas estritamente protegidas são muito escassos (1,6%), e 22% das áreas adequadas devem ser convertidas futuramente em cana-de-açúcar. Hábitats adequados em terras privadas devem desempenhar um papel na conservação da biodiversidade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We used the point selection functions and environmental variables measures at multiple scales, in an ecological neighborhood approach. • Jaguars' habitat selection is influenced by tree cover, shrubland, and areas with water, with no significant differences between sexes and circadian periods. • Male jaguars actively select crop areas, especially at night, while females avoid them. • Both male and female jaguars used roads. • Based on the analysis of environmental factors conducted in this study, many habitats where jaguars are distributed do not present high suitability. Improving coexistence between humans and large predators is one of the foremost issues for the survival of large carnivores, especially in the Neotropics, where conflicts for retaliation are still frequent. This problem was increased due to the expansion of agricultural areas, settlements, roads, and the loss of natural habitats. Therefore, a key component in the long-term conservation of carnivores is to reduce animal-human conflicts. We aimed to assess multi-scale habitat selection models, exploring specificities in the selection for each sex and variation for the circadian period. We found that jaguars live in real landscapes of fear with high human and livestock density, where the perception of risk related to humans governed the selection of their resources. However, depending on the sex of individuals and the circadian period, jaguars positively selected some anthropic structures, such as areas of crops and human settlements. This selection suggested an aptitude to use various human-dominated structures and indicated jaguars could locally perceive risks in different ways, depending of sex and day period. Unexpectedly, jaguars presented attraction to roads, sexual or circadian related, regardless of the natural environments. Our results demonstrate that male and female jaguars could use some anthropic features differently in the distinct circadian periods. In addition, we conclude that the knowledge of the habitat selection for jaguars is a crucial component to the structure of the landscape of coexistence of this species and can give us efficient guidance to better comprehend the behavior through different scales of selection and through different periods of the day. Finally, our results show fundamental observations on the movement plasticity of this species for the construction of conservation plans focusing on the coexistence in different landscapes of the Neotropics dominated by humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small felids influence ecosystem dynamics through prey and plant population changes. Although most of these species are threatened, they are accorded one of the lowest research efforts of all felids, and we lack basic information about them. Many felids occur in sympatry, where intraguild competition is frequent. Therefore, assessing the role of interspecific interactions along with the relative importance of landscape characteristics is necessary to understand how these species co-occur in space. Here, we selected three morphologically similar and closely related species of small Neotropical cats to evaluate the roles of interspecific interactions, geomorphometry, environmental, and anthropogenic landscape characteristics on their habitat use. We collected data with camera trapping and scat sampling in a large protected Atlantic forest remnant (35,000 ha). Throughout occupancy modeling we investigated whether these species occur together more or less frequently than would be expected by chance, while dealing with imperfect detection and incorporating possible habitat preferences into the models. We used occupancy as a measure of their habitat use. Although intraguild competition can be an important determinant of carnivore assemblages, in our system, we did not find evidence that one species affects the habitat use of the other. Evidence suggested that proximity to the nature reserve (a more protected area) was a more important driver of Neotropical spotted cats’ occurrence than interspecific interactions or geomorphometry and environmental landscape characteristics—even though our entire study area is under some type of protection. This suggests that small felids can be sensitive to the area protection status, emphasizing the importance of maintaining and creating reserves and other areas with elevated protection for the proper management and conservation of the group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservationists often have difficulty obtaining financial and social support for protected areas that do not demonstrate their benefits for society. Therefore, ecosystem services have gained importance in conservation science in the last decade, as these services provide further justification for appropriate management and conservation of natural systems. We used InVEST software and a set of GIS procedures to quantify, spatialize and evaluated the overlap between ecosystem services—carbon stock and sediment retention—and a biodiversity proxy–habitat quality. In addition, we proposed a method that serves as an initial approach of a priority areas selection process. The method considers the synergism between ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Our study region is the Iron Quadrangle, an important Brazilian mining province and a conservation priority area located in the interface of two biodiversity hotspots, the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes. The resultant priority area for the maintenance of the highest values of ecosystem services and habitat quality was about 13% of the study area. Among those priority areas, 30% are already within established strictly protected areas, and 12% are in sustainable use protected areas. Following the transparent and highly replicable method we proposed in this study, conservation planners can better determine which areas fulfill multiple goals and can locate the trade-offs in the landscape. We also gave a step towards the improvement of the habitat quality model with a topography parameter. In areas of very rugged topography, we have to consider geomorfometric barriers for anthropogenic impacts and for species movement and we must think beyond the linear distances. Moreover, we used a model that considers the tree mortality caused by edge effects in the estimation of carbon stock. We found low spatial congruence among the modeled services, mostly because of the pattern of sediment retention distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Habitat loss and climate change are two major drivers of biological diversity. Here we quantify how deforestation has already changed, and how future climate scenarios may change, environmental conditions within the highly disturbed Atlantic forests of Brazil. We also examine how environmental conditions have been altered within the range of selected bird species. Location Atlantic forests of south-eastern Brazil. Methods The historical distribution of 21 bird species was estimated using Maxent. After superimposing the present-day forest cover, we examined the environmental niches hypothesized to be occupied by these birds pre- and post-deforestation using environmental niche factor analysis (ENFA). ENFA was also used to compare conditions in the entire Atlantic forest ecosystem pre- and post-deforestation. The relative influence of land use and climate change on environmental conditions was examined using analysis of similarity and principal components analysis. Results Deforestation in the region has resulted in a decrease in suitable habitat of between 78% and 93% for the Atlantic forest birds included here. Further, Atlantic forest birds today experience generally wetter and less seasonal forest environments than they did historically. Models of future environmental conditions within forest remnants suggest generally warmer conditions and lower annual variation in rainfall due to greater precipitation in the driest quarter of the year. We found that deforestation resulted in a greater divergence of environmental conditions within Atlantic forests than that predicted by climate change. Main conclusions The changes in environmental conditions that have occurred with large-scale deforestation suggest that selective regimes may have shifted and, as a consequence, spatial patterns of intra-specific variation in morphology, behaviour and genes have probably been altered. Although the observed shifts in available environmental conditions resulting from deforestation are greater than those predicted by climate change, the latter will result in novel environments that exceed temperatures in any present-day climates and may lead to biotic attrition unless organisms can adapt to these warmer conditions. Conserving intra-specific diversity over the long term will require considering both how changes in the recent past have influenced contemporary populations and the impact of future environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

São Paulo is the most developed state in Brazil and contains few fragments of native ecosystems, generally surrounded by intensive agriculture lands. Despite this, some areas still shelter large native animals. We aimed at understanding how medium and large carnivores use a mosaic landscape of forest/savanna and agroecosystems, and how the species respond to different landscape parameters (percentage of landcover and edge density), in a multi-scale perspective. The response variables were: species richness, carnivore frequency and frequency for the three most recorded species ( Puma concolor, Chrysocyon brachyurus and Leopardus pardalis). We compared 11 competing models using Akaike's information criterion (AIC) and assessed model support using weight of AIC. Concurrent models were combinations of landcover types (native vegetation, “cerrado” formations, “cerradão” and eucalypt plantation), landscape feature (percentage of landcover and edge density) and spatial scale. Herein, spatial scale refers to the radius around a sampling point defining a circular landscape. The scales analyzed were 250 (fine), 1,000 (medium) and 2,000 m (coarse). The shape of curves for response variables (linear, exponential and power) was also assessed. Our results indicate that species with high mobility, P. concolor and C. brachyurus, were best explained by edge density of the native vegetation at a coarse scale (2,000 m). The relationship between P. concolor and C. brachyurus frequency had a negative power-shaped response to explanatory variables. This general trend was also observed for species richness and carnivore frequency. Species richness and P. concolor frequency were also well explained by a second concurrent model: edge density of cerradão at the fine (250 m) scale. A different response was recorded for L. pardalis, as the frequency was best explained for the amount of cerradão at the fine (250 m) scale. The curve of response was linearly positive. The contrasting results ( P. concolor and C. brachyurus vs L. pardalis) may be due to the much higher mobility of the two first species, in comparison with the third. Still, L. pardalis requires habitat with higher quality when compared with other two species. This study highlights the importance of considering multiple spatial scales when evaluating species responses to different habitats. An important and new finding was the prevalence of edge density over the habitat extension to explain overall carnivore distribution, a key information for planning and management of protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of natural landscapes in extensive anthropogenic areas has significantly affected ecological processes, and studies that evaluate such changes are essential for the definition of conservation strategies. In this study, we sought to identify the variables influencing the occupancy of Atlantic forest fragments by the endemic and endangered maned sloth. We selected 33 sampling stations, distributed at least 500 m apart throughout the municipality of Santa Maria de Jetibá—ES, Brazil. We sampled each station five times to verify the presence or absence of the species and to collect local variables. Using GIS tools, we defined a buffer of 200 m around each fragment and calculated the landscape metrics. After analysis of collinearity, we selected six variables – three local variables, two at patch level and one at landscape level – to assess their effect on the occupancy and detection probabilities. We selected models using AICc and calculated the weight of evidence and ratio of the models as well as the cumulative weight of each predictor variable. We detected the sloth in 48% of the stations. Its occupation was positively correlated to two variables on the local scale: Important Feeding Trees and Canopy height. Our results show that the maned sloth respond to fine local scale variables, but not to landscape structure. This is probably associated with the relatively high proportion of forest cover in the study area, but it also indicates the maned sloth flexibility to occupy fragmented landscape. Based on our results, we reinforce the unquestionable importance of local variables for species occupancy within fragmented landscapes, such as those related with the forest structure, and it is particularly important for strictly arboreal species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remnant habitat patches immersed within biofuel cropland matrices can retain considerable species diversity, although the effects of land use change on species persistence in historically modified landscapes remain unclear. The Atlantic Forest is one of the most fragmented South American biodiversity hotspots and retains about 12% of its original vegetation cover. Most of these remnants are distributed in small isolated fragments immersed mainly within pastures and sugarcane monocultures. Here we examine how species richness and composition of medium and large-sized mammals are explained by forest cover, structural area and forest edge amount at the landscape scale. We sampled 22 fragmented landscapes dominated by sugarcane plantations along a wide gradient of forest cover (3% to 96%) in southeastern Brazil. We recorded 88% of terrestrial mammal species expected for this region, but many likely local extirpations were detected at the landscape scale, with losses between 50% to 80% of species. Most of the landscapes were highly depleted of forest-specialist species, with replacements by exotics and/or species typical of non-forest habitats. We found that total mammalian species richness, which includes forest-specialists, generalists, exotics and non-forest dwelling species, was not affected by landscape metrics, such as forest cover, structural area and forest edge amount. Nevertheless, forest cover was important predictor of the presence of three ungulates, a medium-sized rodent, and an armadillo. Local mammalian communities exhibited a high degree of species turnover between landscapes, representing 95% of the total β-diversity. In this region, where there was no regional extinction, landholder compliance with the Brazilian Forest Bill and restoration measures will enhance habitat connectivity and mammal persistence across the wider unprotected countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The replacement of native vegetation by crops and pasturelands compromises the functional diversity of plants and negatively influence ecosystem functions such as pollination and seed dispersal. Here, we investigate the effects of landscape structure on the diversity of functional traits in agricultural landscapes in the Brazilian Cerrado. We sampled the woody plant community in 49 sites in forests and savannas, and analyzed the density and richness of pollination and seed dispersal syndromes. We performed model selection using Akaike Information Criterion to test whether landscape variables such as habitat amount, percentage of agriculture and pasture, patch and edge densities, and compositional heterogeneity at different spatial scales influence the density and richness of woody plant functional traits related to seed dispersal and pollination syndromes. The amount of forest and patch density were the landscape predictors that explained most of the diversity of plant functional traits. The amount of agricultural and savanna as well as edge density and landscape heterogeneity also affected functional traits. Our results suggest that habitat amount and configuration in the landscapes drive the diversity of functional traits, pointing that maintaining habitats within Cerrado agricultural landscapes is determinant for the plant's functional traits diversity. Furthermore, a heterogeneous mosaic may favor the density or richness of plants pollinated by insects and hummingbirds. The continuous loss and fragmentation of habitats may lead to loss of ecological functions compromising the provision of ecosystems services in agricultural landscapes in the Cerrado ecoregion. • The amount of forest and patch density explained better the diversity of plant functional traits in agricultural landscapes. • The amount of agricultural and savanna, the edge density and landscape heterogeneity affected the richness of functional traits. • The richness of both floral syndromes were more influenced by landscape features than the density of individuals. • The richness of autochoric and entomophilic plants were the most affected syndromes by landscape features. • Habitat amount and landscape heterogeneity may favor the provision of ecosystems services of habitat patches in the Cerrado. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]