Abstract
On the latest 60 years the degradation and fragmentation of native habitats have been modifying the landscape in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. The adaptive plasticity of an organism has been crucial for its long-term survival and success in these novel ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the response of four endangered species of large terrestrial mammals to the variations in the quality of their original habitats, in a context of high anthropogenic pressure. The distribution of the Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Giant anteater), Priodontes maximus (Giant armadillo), Tapirus terrestris (Lowland tapir) and Tayassu pecari (White-lipped peccary) in all sampled habitats suggests their tolerance to degradation. However, the survival ability of each species in the different habitats was not the same. Among the four species, T. pecari seems to be the one with the least ability to survive in more altered environments. The positive influence of the anthropogenically altered habitats on abundances of three of the four species studied, as observed at the regeneration areas, can be considered as a potential indication of the ecological trap phenomenon. This study reinforces the importance of the forest remnants for the survival of endangered mammal species, in regions of high anthropogenic pressure, as in the eastern Brazilian Amazon.
Highlights
Since the 1960s the Brazilian Amazon rainforest has been degraded at a fast pace
We investigated the response of the abundance of M. tridactyla, P. maximus, T. terrestris and T. pecari to variations in the quality of their original habitats, in the eastern Brazilian Amazon
We obtained 2059 independent records of the four endangered species evaluated in this study, of which 263 were of M. tridactyla, 50 of P. maximus, 1585 of T. terrestris and 161 of T. pecari
Summary
Since the 1960s the Brazilian Amazon rainforest has been degraded at a fast pace. About 90% of this deforestation is concentrated in the "Deforestation Arc" [2], located in the eastern and southern portion of the area, which encompass the agricultural and cattle frontier of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. In addition to the substitution of the forest for agriculture and pasture [3], there is a removal of forest and soil for mining activities [4], and degradation of the forest through selective-logging [5].
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