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Landscape and patch attributes impacting medium- and large-sized terrestrial mammals in a fragmented rain forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2013

Adriana Garmendia ,
Víctor Arroyo-Rodríguez ,
Alejandro Estrada ,
Eduardo J. Naranjo  and
Kathryn E. Stoner
Adriana Garmendia
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Antigua carretera a Pátzcuaro No.8701, Ex Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, Morelia 58190, Michoacán, México
Víctor Arroyo-Rodríguez*
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Antigua carretera a Pátzcuaro No.8701, Ex Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, Morelia 58190, Michoacán, México
Alejandro Estrada
Affiliation:
Estación de Biología Tropical Los Tuxtlas, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, San Andrés Tuxtla 95700, Veracruz, México
Eduardo J. Naranjo
Affiliation:
Departamento de Conservación de la Biodiversidad, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, San Cristóbal de Las Casas 29290, Chiapas, México
Kathryn E. Stoner
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Health Sciences, Texas A & M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, Texas 78363-8202, USA
*
1Corresponding author. E-mail: victorarroyo_rodriguez@hotmail.com
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Abstract:

Understanding the response of biodiversity to land-use changes is an important challenge for ecologists. We assessed the effects of five landscape metrics (forest cover, number of patches, edge density, mean inter-patch isolation distance and matrix quality) and three patch metrics (patch size, shape and isolation) on the number of species and patch occupancy of medium- and large-sized terrestrial mammals in the fragmented Lacandona rain forest, Mexico. We sampled mammal assemblages in 24 forest patches and four control areas within a continuous forest. The landscape metrics were measured within a 100-ha buffer, and within a 500-ha buffer from the centre of each sampling site. A total of 21 species from 13 families was recorded. The number of species increased with shape complexity and patch size at the patch scale, and with matrix quality within 100-ha landscapes. When considering 500-ha landscapes, only the number of patches (i.e. forest fragmentation level) tended to have a negative influence at the community level. Different landscape and patch metrics predicted the occurrence of each species within the sites. Our results indicate that there is a gradient of tolerance to forest cover change, from highly sensitive species to those tolerant of, or even benefited by, forest-cover change.

Keywords

forest fragmentationLacandonaland-use changematrix qualitypatch sizeshape complexity
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , July 2013 , pp. 331 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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References

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