BMC Ecology
Volume 8
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Abstract (provisional)
Background
The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is highly endangered and only about 7% of the original forest remains, most of which consists of fragments of secondary forest. Atlantic Forest small mammals are differently affected by this process of fragmentation and conversion of forest into anthropogenic habitats and present distinct ability to occupy the surrounding altered habitats. We investigated the influence of vegetation structure on the micro-scale distribution of five small mammal species in six secondary forest remnants in an Atlantic Forest fragmented landscape. We examined if the occurrence of small mammal species is influenced by vegetation structure, aiming to investigate if species with different degrees of vulnerability to forest fragmentation are associated to distinct vegetation characteristics.
Results
Although vegetation structure differed among fragments, micro-scale distribution of most of the species was influenced by vegetation structure in a similar way in different fragments. Among the three species that were previously shown not to be vulnerable to forest fragmentation, A. montensis and G. microtarsus were present at locations with an open canopy and the occurrence of O. nigripes was associated to a low canopy and a dense understory. On the other hand, from the two species that were shown to be vulnerable to fragmentation, M. incanus was captured most often at locations with a closed canopy while the distribution of D. sublineatus was not clearly influenced by micro-scale variation in vegetation structure.
Conclusions
Results indicate the importance of micro-scale variation in vegetation structure for the distribution of small mammal species in secondary forest remnants. Species non-vulnerable to fragmentation occurred at locations with vegetation characteristics of more disturbed forest, while species vulnerable to fragmentation were distributed at locations with older forest characteristics. Results suggest that micro-habitat preferences may be an important factor influencing small mammal capacity to occupy altered habitats and, consequently, their vulnerability to forest fragmentation at a larger spatial scale.
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