Ecology of a community of mammals in a seasonailly dry forest in Roraima, Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Summary A community of middle-sized and larger mammals was studied in a seasonally dry forest in the far north of the Brazilian Amazon. Diurnal and nocturnal surveys were carried out through the linetransect method, in 5 different forest types along a 10-km transect. Data were collected an density, biomass, and use of the forest types, and forest strata by the mammals. The terrestrial community of mammals was more abundant than the arboreal one, with ungulates contributing to the bulk of the biomass, as a result of Maraca being highly seasonal Overall densities were lower than in other sites in the neotropics, varying from 90.2 ind/km 2 in mixed forest, to 159.9 ind/km 2 in Terra Firme forest, whereas biomass, due to the contribution of large mammals, was much higher (2613.2 kg/km 2 in mixed forest, and 4351.6 kg/km 2 in Terra Firme forest). This study confirms that the animals surviving in larger numbers in these highly seasonal forests, where food productivity may be very low during the dry season, are those that have larger home ranges and travel longer distances in search of food.