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TÍTULO

ATLANTIC MAMMALS: A DATASET OF ASSEMBLAGES OF MEDIUM AND LARGE-SIZED MAMMALS OF THE ATLANTIC FOREST OF SOUTH AMERICA

Resumo

Biodiversity inventories contain important information about species richness, community structure and composition, and are the first step in developing any conservation and mitigation strategies. The Atlantic Forest of South America is home to around 334 species of small, medium and large-sized mammals, and is currently restricted to less than 12% of its original cover. In this work we present the ATLANTIC MAMMALS, an open dataset on information on medium and large-sized mammal communities in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. A total of 129 studies were compiled, including published and in press peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, theses and dissertations, as well as unpublished data. We mapped 244 communities, eight orders, 63 genera and 94 species (24 of which are classified as threatened by the IUCN Red List) distributed in 128 protected and 116 unprotected areas. Species richness of the mammalian communities varied from 1 to 39 species (mean 15). The most recorded species in the entire biome was Dasypus novemcinctus, followed by Cerdocyon thous and Procyon cancrivorous. We also find that there is a strong relationship between protected and unprotected areas and species richness, with greater species richness in protected areas (p = 0.01868). Although there are intense anthropogenic actions in the Atlantic Forest, it still shelter s a rich fauna of medium and large-sized mammal species, of which more than 50% are considered vulnerable and/or near threatened with extinction on a global level. We also identified some regions of some Brazilian states with little if any information about medium and large-sized mammals, such as the northern region of Minas Gerais, the northern and interior regions of Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas, Pernambuco and Paraíba, and the bioregions of “ São Francisco ” and “Brejo Nordestino ”. These data can be useful in support of macroecological studies and conservation planning strategies allowing researchers to recognize some patterns and be able to: 1) determine priority areas for sampling mammals; 2) determine the minimal sampling protocol necessary for standardizing the study of mammals in the Atlantic Forest; 3) design wildlife corridors based on the occurrence of mammals; 4) evaluate the ecological consequences of landscape fragmentation and defaunation; 5) evaluate the importance of protected and unprotected areas; 6) better understand community composition, 7) identify potential trophic cascades mediated by mammals, and 8) document the impact and occurrence of invasive species.

Palavras-chave

inventories, beta diversity, sampling method, biogeography, threatened mammals