The importance of remnant native vegetation of Amazonian submontane forest for the conservation of lizards

Abstract

Forest fragmentation affects animal population dynamics mainly by loss of habitat and disruption of animal movement. Lizard assemblages are affected by environmental changes, but, depending on their ecological needs, some species might be more vulnerable than others. The southern Amazon suffers accelerated anthropic actions replacing natural environments by farmland (crops and pasture). This region is considerably drier than most of the northern Amazon, with stational semi-deciduous forests fragmented and isolated by pasture, and crops to a lesser extent. Here we report data on lizard assemblages using semi-deciduous forests, forest edge and the surrounding pasture in the southern Amazon in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Lizards were collected in 21 forest fragments (41 to 7,035 ha) surrounded by pasture; using pitfall traps placed on a degradation gradient -from pasture inwards forest fragment (up to 200 m). We collected 242 individuals (14 species, seven families) in 6,300 trap-days. The pattern of species occurrence was largely nested and this nesting was associated with three habitat guilds (generalist, edge-tolerant, and forest species). Although there was no obvious fragmentation effect on lizards diversity community-wise, Hoplocercus spinosus, Bachia dorbignyi, Micrablepharus maximiliani and Kentropyx calcarta were more vulnerable to such effects than all other ten species collected. We verified that assemblages inhabiting pasture and forest edge are a nested subset of assemblages from the forest core. The remnant native vegetation is not distributed homogeneously and lizards species can persist in different parts of the landscape, therefore we recommend the protection of forest remnants as an important conservation action for lizards of the southern Amazon.Keywords: herpetology, Amazon, community ecology, conservation, nestedness.Efeito de borda sobre a comunidade de lagartos em fragmentos de floresta semidecidual submontana ao sul da Amazônia Resumo A fragmentação de florestas afeta a dinâmica das populações animais por meio, principalmente, da perda de habitat e interrupção dos movimentos dos animais. Assembléias de lagartos são afetados por mudanças ambientais, mas, a depender de suas demandas ecológicas, algumas espécies são mais vulneráveis do que outras. A Amazônia Meridional sofre ações antrópicas aceleradas substituindo ambientes naturais por terras voltadas para agropecuária (cultivos e pasto). Esta região é consideravelmente mais seca do que a maior parte das terras ao norte da Amazônia, com florestas estacionais semi-deciduais fragmentadas e isoladas por pasto, e, em menor extensão, cultivos agrícolas. Neste estudo apresentamos informações sobre uso de bordas e pastagem de lagartos confinados a fragmentos de florestas semi-decíduas no sul da Amazônia em Mato Grosso, Brasil. Foram coletados lagartos em 21 fragmentos florestais (41 a 7,035 ha) cercados por pasto; usando armadilhas de queda (pitfalltraps) colocadas em um gradiente de degradação -do pasto em direção ao interior do fragmento floresta...

New records of Apostolepis kikoi Santos et al., 2018 (Serpentes, Dipsadidae) in the state of Mato Grosso, Central-West Brazil

“…The lack of information on the natural history, distribution, and conservation of this species, resulting from the low number of specimens observed since its description, make it difficult to determine the current threat status for the species. Besides, it is worrying that the new recorded locations, corresponding to a transition area between the Amazon and Cerrado biomes, are inserted in a region highly pressured by deforestation and cattle ranching activity (Silva et al 2014). Habitat loss is one of the main threats to the conservation of Brazilian reptiles (ICMBio 2018) and, therefore, conservation efforts are essential to guarantee the permanence of A. kikoi in these areas.…”

Riparian zone as a main determinant of the structure of lizard assemblages in upland Amazonian forests

“…Some species are strongly associated with particular habitats (Buckley & Jetz ; Silva et al . ), which makes them potentially sensitive to environmental variations (Ledo & Colli ).…”

Artificial neural network for ecological-economic zoning as a tool for spatial planning

“…i.e., areas of permanent preservation. In this case, the landscape has the ecological function of preserving water resources, geological and pedological stability, and biodiversity, as well as facilitating the gene flow of fauna and flora, ensuring the well-being of human populations (Silva et al, 2014a). These populations can also enjoy the area through non-timber plant extractivism and traditional artisanal fishing (Le Tourneau & Bursztyn, 2010).…”

“…The ANN-SOM has been used in several activities that require the creation of clusters -such as in those for the identification of ecoregions (Soares et al, 2014), exploratory analysis of multivariate geospatial data (Leal et al, 2015), regionalization of socioeconomic units, and territorial management (Silva et al, 2014a) -and in many others, from medical (Souza Neto et al, 2013) to economic sciences (Summa & Macrini, 2014). However, the used database should be without topological errors, overlaps or gaps, following a pattern already established by Infraestrutura Nacional de Dados Espaciais (INDE, 2014).…”