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Simple Summary: This study evaluated the possible role of wildlife in the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga biomes of Bahia, Brazil, as reservoirs of Salmonella. Very low frequencies (4/674 = 0.59%) of Salmonella infections and antibiotic resistance were observed. Thus, the findings of this study indicated that a wide variety of wildlife species do not carry Salmonella. This may be attributed to minimal human interference. Bacteria of potential public health concern were only detected in areas with high human interaction; therefore, we propose that Salmonella may be a good indicator of degradation in wildlife environments. Salmonella spp. are known to persist in the environment. Wild animals are believed to act as important reservoirs, with antimicrobial resistance frequently occurring in the environment. However, little is known about the role of the wildlife in Bahia as a reservoir for Salmonella in Brazil. This study aimed to isolate and characterize Salmonella spp. from wildlife in the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga biomes considering indicators such as the animal species, degree of anthropization, sampling area, and feeding habits. Convenience wildlife sampling and characterization were conducted, followed by microbiological and molecular identification of Salmonella isolates, serotyping, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. A total of 674 fecal samples were collected from 12 municipalities during 2015–2021, and 4 were positive for the following Salmonella species: Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Agona (n = 1), Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serogroup O:16 (n = 2), and Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Muenchen (n = 1). Antimicrobial susceptibility analysis revealed that one isolate was resistant to six antibiotics, including extended-spectrum penicillins and beta-lactamase inhibitors. These results indicated a low frequency of Salmonella spp. in the sampled forest fragments. The presence of Salmonella in wild animals increases the risk to public health and biodiversity and indicates that they can act as sentinels of environmental contamination or indicators of preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atlantic Forest (AF) is amongst the most threatened forests in the world. To decide where conservation efforts should be focused to preserve species, assessment of ecological and biogeographic processes nowadays are crucial. Patterns of the distribution of organisms can provide an important source of information underlying the biogeographical history of a biota. Here, our main objective was to identify Areas of Endemism (AoE) for non-volant small mammals in the AF and to investigate if those AoE are covered by protected areas. We performed quantitative and qualitative approaches to delimit AoE and calculated the area overlaid by Conservation Units (CU) within each AoE. Our results supported the recognition of seven AoE for small mammals in the AF, which largely are congruent with previous studies undertaken on other organisms, thereby highlighting the importance of those regions as hotspots of endemism. Most of the AoE recovered in the present study have less than 12% of their territory covered by forest remnants, and less than 11% of their entire range is under legal protection. These findings bring to light an important discussion on how information pertaining to the representativeness of CU within regions of high endemicity could help to identify areas in need of urgent protection within a threatened biodiversity hotspot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]