Causes and Consequences of Large-Scale Defaunation in the Atlantic Forest

Abstract

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Large wild herbivores slow down the rapid decline of plant diversity in a tropical forest biodiversity hotspot

“…Furthermore, our study indicates that the buffering effects of LH prevent dramatic declines in diversity on forest diversity hot patches so that LH conservation and trophic rewilding could play a key role in preserving biodiversity strongholds even at a very fine spatial scale. Similar threats are widespread and ongoing across the Atlantic Forest (Galetti et al, 2021) and many other forests globally. We believe such disturbances might be behind the dramatic decline of sapling recruitment and species richness in the park, reflected in the temporal trajectories of our plots.…”

“…From a fundamental ecology standpoint, these results shed some light into the context dependency of LH effects (Jia et al, 2018;Koerner et al, 2018). diversity resulting in a win-win option for preserving the trophic interactions, structure and diversity in those hyperdiverse ecosystems while concomitantly facilitating the restoration of the functional processes fostered by LHs (Galetti et al, 2021;Villar et al, 2020.…”

“…Large Neotropical forest herbivores, such as peccaries and tapirs, directly affect understorey plant communities through mutualisms and antagonisms, such as seed and sapling predation, seed dispersal and trampling (Kurten et al., 2015; Villar et al., 2020), and indirectly through a number of other processes (Galetti et al., 2021). In another long‐term study, Villar et al.…”

“…Within that context, reversing defaunation of tropical forests through LH conservation and rewilding might contribute to restore lost ecosystem processes and functions (Galetti et al., 2021; Pires et al., 2018; Villar et al., 2020, 2021) and accelerate ecosystem recovery (Root‐Bernstein et al., 2017), yet this option is not in the agenda of most ambitious large‐scale restoration initiatives (Brancalion et al., 2019; Rodrigues et al., 2009). Indeed, trophic rewilding with LH in particular may help to reverse defaunation and conserve increasingly endangered LH populations, as well as restoring their ecological functions in benefit biodiversity (Svenning, 2016).…”

Estudo Morfológico e Caracterização das Espécies de Ceroys Serville, 1838 (Phasmatodea: Heteronemiidae: Heteronemiinae: Pygirhynchini) de Mata Atlântica

“…Essa situação traz uma enorme pressão em relação ao estudo e conservação da área, que vem ganhando interesse crescente de ecólogos, taxônomos e ambientalistas nas últimas décadas. Apesar disso, há um enorme viés relacionado aos estudos de conservação e análise de impactos ambientais já que vertebrados e plantas são os grupos majoritariamente analisados (Pinto et al 2006, Galetti et al 2021.…”