The Brazilian Cerrado is a global biodiversity hotspot with notoriously high rates of native vegetation suppression and wildfires over the past three decades. As a result, climate change can already be detected at both local and regional scales. In this study, we used three different approaches based on independent datasets to investigate possible changes in the daytime and nighttime temperature and air humidity between the peak of the dry season and the beginning of the rainy season in the Brazilian Cerrado. Additionally, we evaluated the tendency of dew point depression, considering it as a proxy to assess impacts on biodiversity. Monthly increases of 2.2−4.0℃ in the maximum temperatures and 2.4−2.8℃ in the minimum temperatures between 1961 and 2019 were recorded, supported by all analyzed datasets which included direct observations, remote sensing, and modeling data. The warming raised the vapor pressure deficit, and although we recorded an upward trend in absolute humidity, relative humidity has reduced by ~15%. If these tendencies are maintained, gradual air warming will make nightly cooling insufficient to reach the dew point in the early hours of the night. Therefore, it will progressively reduce both the amount and duration of nocturnal dewfall, which is the main source of water for numerous plants and animal species of the Brazilian Cerrado during the dry season. Through several examples, we hypothesize that these climate changes can have a high impact on biodiversity and potentially cause ecosystems to collapse. We emphasize that the effects of temperature and humidity on Cerrado ecosystems cannot be neglected and should be further explored from a land use perspective.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the taxonomic diversity of fossil and extant bats from the region of the Serra da Mesa in the State of Goias, Central Brazil. Quaternary fossils were obtained from four limestone caves, namely Igrejinha, Carneiro, Nossa Senhora Aparecida, and Itambé. Information on extant bat fauna used for comparison were obtained from literature and from the collection of Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro). The taxonomic identification of the fragments was based on a comparative study of the masticatory apparatus of extant and fossil bat species. A total of 430 fragments were identified, comprising 27 species: Anoura geoffroyi, Artibeus sp., Carollia sp., Chrotopterus auritus, Desmodus rotundus, Desmodus sp., Emballonuridae sp. indet., Eptesicus/ Histiotus, Glossophaga sp., Lionycteris spurrelli, Lonchorhina aurita, Micronycteris megalotis, Mimon bennetti, Mimon crenulatum, Molossidae sp. indet., Myotis sp., Natalus stramineus, Phylloderma sp. n., Phyllostomus discolor, Phyllostomus hastatus, Platyrrhinus sp., Pteronotus davyi, Pteronotus parnelli, Sturnira sp., Tonatia sp. n., Lophostoma silvicola, and Trachops cirrhosus. Phyllostomidae was the most speciose family, but surprisingly most of the fossil fragments were attributed to the families Natalidae and Mormoopidae. Both of which are rare in the area today. The population reduction of these hot-humid-cave dwelling species (Natalus and Pteronotus) may suggest the climate of the area was warmer and wetter during some interval of the Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene. This study presents the first record of the genera Lionycteris, Lonchorhina and Trachops from the Quaternary of South America. The diversity of Chiroptera found in Serra da Mesa is equivalent to that described for Bahia, which heretofore has the most abundant record for Quaternary bats from South America.

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New records of Catagonus stenocephalus and Tayassu pecari are reported from the karst of Serra da Bodoquena, located at a south-western portion of Brazil near the border with Paraguay. Skull and lower jaw fragments at different stages of mineralisation were retrieved from two limestone underwater caves, Japonês and Nascente do Formoso, associated with clay and sand deposits with no retrievable stratigraphy. C14 dating of fossil mammals from these caves was attempted, but so far no success was achieved, but the inferred age for the associated paleofauna of these caves is Late Pleistocene and Holocene. The morphology of these fossil peccaries, from the most south-western known population in Brazil, is detailed and paleoecological implications are considered.

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