Alta Floresta

Species persistence in a hyper-fragmented forest landscape

Project team Primary contacts Alex Lees Fernanda Michalski Carlos Peres Additional members Ricardo Luiz Pires Boulhosa Alexandre Faria Simon Mahood Ivone Nishi

Project summary

Predictions from the equilibrium theory of island biogeography have been largely based on the unqualified effects of habitat patch size and isolation. This study investigates the ecological consequences of deforestation and subdivision of remaining forest patches on Amazonian forest biodiversity in the context of habitat quality mediated by post-isolation forest disturbance. Our research is based in the Amazonian ‘Arc of Deforestation’ region of Alta Floresta, northern Mato Grosso, a rapidly expanding 30 yr-old frontier driven primarily by logging and cattle ranching. We examine how forest fragmentation — as defined by different landscape and patch metrics — interacts with different forms of anthropogenic habitat disturbance to determine patterns of species persistence and habitat use. Specifically we examine how species-area relationships for a diverse set of taxa are modulated by different scales of forest disturbance. We also investigate different species’ responses to habitat fragmentation (e.g., gap-crossing behaviour; forest corridor usage; edge effects) and assess the extent to which the vertebrate community is able to use forest remnants exposed to varying degrees of human disturbance and the surrounding non-forest matrix. The region encapsulates the entire gradient of Amazonian forest disturbance, from highly fragmented and heavily disturbed landscapes to entirely undisturbed areas, therefore providing an ideal location for forest fragmentation studies. Ultimately the study aims to mitigate land use policy when agricultural settlement programs are inevitable to maximize the retention value of remaining forest patches.

Key publications

Michalski, F., Nishi, I. & Peres, C.A. 2007. Disturbance-mediated drift in tree functional groups in Amazonian forest fragments. Biotropica, in press.

Lees, A.C. & Peres, C.A. 2006. Rapid avifaunal collapse along the Amazonian deforestation frontier. Biological Conservation, 133: 198-211

Michalski, F., Boulhosa, R.L.P., Faria, A. & Peres, C.A. 2006. Human-wildlife conflicts in a fragmented Amazonian forest landscape: determinants of large felid depredation on livestock. Animal Conservation, 9: 179-188.

Peres, C.A. & Michalski, F. 2006. Synergistic effects of habitat disturbance and hunting in Amazonian forest fragments. In W.F. Laurance & C.A. Peres (Eds.). Emerging threats to tropical forests, pp: 105-127. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Michalski, F. & Peres, C.A. 2005. Anthopogenic determinants of primate and carnivore local extinctions in a fragmented forest landscape of southern Amazonia. Biological Conservation, 124: 383-396.


Collaborating institutions

University of East Anglia,School of Environmental Sciences, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom

Pro Carnivores, Caixa Postal: 10 Atibaia - SP - BRASIL CEP: 12940-970Project Sponsors

 

Project Sponsors

	Natural Environment Research Council (UK)
	Brazilian Ministry of Education (CAPES, Brazil)

	Conservation Interntional (USA)
	Fundacao Ecologica Cristalino (Brazil)

	World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF, Brazil)
	Brazilian Ministry of Environment (MMA, IBAMA, CENAP)

	John Ball Zoological Society