PEQUENOS MAMÍFEROS DE UMA ÁREA PROTEGIDA: EXPLORANDO PADRÕES DE DIVERSIDADE EM UMA PAISAGEM ALTAMENTE FRAGMENTADA

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms that affect patterns of diversity is an interesting topic for ecologists studying small mammals, but most of these studies focus only on the pattern of richness. The problem is, that richness assigns equal weights to species, which, depending on the study, can be a constraint. In this study we investigate some facets of diversity of a small mammal community; Richness (TR), Functional diversity (FD), and Phylogenetic diversity (PD) and how they are shaped by local resources, habitat structure and landscape metrics in a protected area inserted in a fragmented landscape of Central Brazil. We delimited the protected area and its surroundings in 20 hexagons, the sampling units, in each unit we installed 10 trapping sites for the capture of small mammals. At five randomly selected sites, we collected data of vegetation structure and food resources, landscape metrics were obtained using satellite images. We estimated functional diversity based on morphological, ecological and behavioural traits of the captured species. For phylogenetics, we derived the phylogenetic tree from the phylogeny of Upham, 2019. No pattern of diversity was explained by food resources. FD and PD were explained by shrubs, but this relation was negative. FD was explained by the number of lianas, and PDNTI, a phylogenetic diversity measure which is related to co-occurrence of species, was explained by the number of trees. PDNTI was also explained by the distance to the nearest stream through a negative relationship. In forest environments, the amount of lianas and trees perform an important role in the vertical structure of forests, which increases the functional space for species, resulting in greater functional and phylogenetic diversity than open areas, where shrubs are more abundant. In addition, phylogenetically similar species seems to occupy environments with more trees, highlighting the adaptations of arboreal species in forest environments, some of them with evidence of phylogenetic signal. With so many changes in the landscape and forest dynamics caused in the last, and current, century, more studies are needed to assess the effect of vegetation structure, and other variables, on the community of small mammals.