Abstract
This paper examines the frequencies of mammal roadkill in two adjacent biogeographic ecoregions (Atlantic Forest and Cerrado) of Brazil. Mammals were recorded during a seven-year period and over 3,900 km of roads, in order to obtain data for frequencies of species in habitats (sites) and frequencies of species killed by cars on roads. Sites (n = 80) within ecoregions (Cerrado, n = 57; Atlantic Forest, n = 23) were searched for records of mammals. Species surveyed in the entire region totaled 33, belonging to nine orders and 16 families. In the Cerrado, 31 species were recorded in habitats; of these, 25 were found dead on roads. In the Atlantic Forest ecoregions, however, we found 21 species in habitats, 16 of which were also found dead on roads. There was no overall significant difference between ecoregions for frequencies of occurrence in habitats or for roadkills, but there were differences between individual species. Hence, anteaters were mostly recorded in the Cerrado ecoregion, whereas caviomorph rodents tended to be more frequent in the Atlantic Forest ecoregion (seen mainly by roadkills). The greater number of species (overall and threatened) and the greater abundance of species records in the Cerrado suggest that this ecoregion has a greater biodiversity and is better conserved than the Atlantic Forest ecoregion, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, south-western Brazil.
Highlights
Conservation biology is one of the main disciplines that strives to compensate for anthropogenic pressure
Anteaters were mostly recorded in the Cerrado ecoregion, whereas caviomorph rodents tended to be more frequent in the Atlantic Forest ecoregion
In regard to frequencies of mammals in natural habitats and roads, some species typical of the savannas were most common in the Cerrado ecoregion, as expected from other regional (SANTOS-FILHO & DA SILVA 2002, ROCHA & DALPONTE 2006, CÁCERES et al 2007) and large-scale studies (FONSECA et al 1996, EMMONS & FEER 1997, EISENBERG & REDFORD 1999)
Summary
Conservation biology is one of the main disciplines that strives to compensate for anthropogenic pressure. Discrepancies may exist between the observed distribution and the true (historic) distribution of a species due to disturbance, which may cause changes in the distributional patterns that are not due to community evolution (LOMOLINO & PERAULT 2004). Examples of such disturbances are habitat fragmentation, hunting pressure and roadkill mortality. Roads are one of the most important factors contributing to loss of biodiversity Their effects range from habitat fragmentation and increased edge effects, to accidents resulting in deaths and consequent population instability (FORMAN & ALEXANDER 1998, SANTOS & TABARELLI 2002). No study has focused on the relationships between mammal abundances and roadkills of the adjacent Brazilian Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes
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