Mamíferos de médio e grande porte dispersores de sementes em florestas de Terra firme ao longo de um gradiente de degradação na Amazônia oriental

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the restoration/regeneration of degraded neotropical habitats yet the potential role of natural regenerators remains unclear. The response of terrestrial mammals to habitat loss and fragmentation are well documented, but little is known regarding how they respond to forest degradation. We test the hypothesis that the assemblage of terrestrial mammals in sites with more intense degradation show greater loss of taxonomic and functional diversity. We quantified the taxonomic and functional diversity of eight terrestrial mammal seed-disperser species across a degradation gradient in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. We installed camera-traps in 15 lowland sites within small-holder properties with different degrees of degradation (five sites each of late second-regrowth forest, early second-regrowth forest and abandoned pasture). Species richness and functional dispersion were compared with 15 paired forest control sites. We found a significant reduction in taxonomic and functional diversity in degraded areas. Yet, we also found that diversity in degraded sites could be similar to control sites even in some early-second regrowth areas. Our findings suggest that when surrounded by large intact forest areas the taxonomic and functional diversity close to human small-holdings can return to pre-degradation values.