NONVOLANT MAMMALS IN A FRAGMENT OF ARBOREAL CAATINGA IN NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Abstract

The state of Paraiba is one of those with the most degraded Caatinga that presents the large gap of knowledge concerning the mammal fauna. Mammals are among the taxa most affected by this. In this sense, we evaluated non-volant mammals’ richness and composition between March 2013 and February 2020 in a Caatinga fragment (121 ha). We used active search (336 hours) and camera traps (1,200 night traps). We recorded 20 species, including four threatened ones. Carnivora was the most representative order (7 species), followed by Rodentia (4 species). The richness of non-volant mammals found represents 35.6 % of the total number of such species in the Caatinga. This species richness is greater than that found in other studies in the state. The presence of these mammal species was mainly due to the recovering vegetation that resulted from the great planting effort and also due to cessation of hunt, cattle and sheep breeding that had existed on the farm for over thirty years. Our findings highlight the importance of this particular reserve due to the large number of species registered.