Camera trap surveys of Atlantic Forest mammals: A data set for analyses considering imperfect detection (2004-2020).

Camera traps became the main observational method of a myriad of species over large areas. Data sets from camera traps can be used to describe the patterns and monitor the occupancy, abundance, and richness of wildlife, essential information for conservation in times of rapid climate and land-cover changes. Habitat loss and poaching are responsible for historical population losses of mammals in the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot, especially for medium to large-sized species.

Atlantic flower-invertebrate interactions: A data set of occurrence and frequency of floral visits.

Encounters between flowers and invertebrates are key events for the functioning of tropical forests. Assessing the structure of networks composed of the interactions between those partners leads to a better understanding of ecosystem functioning and the effects of environmental factors on ecological processes. Gathering such data is, however, costly and time-consuming, especially in the highly diverse tropics.

NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES: A dataset of occurrence and abundance of freshwater fishes in the Neotropics.

The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data.

ATLANTIC ANTS: a data set of ants in Atlantic Forests of South America.

Ants, an ecologically successful and numerically dominant group of animals, play key ecological roles as soil engineers, predators, nutrient recyclers, and regulators of plant growth and reproduction in most terrestrial ecosystems. Further, ants are widely used as bioindicators of the ecological impact of land use. We gathered information of ant species in the Atlantic Forest of South America.

Environmental and anthropogenic factors synergistically affect space use of jaguars.

Large terrestrial carnivores have undergone some of the largest population declines and range reductions of any species, which is of concern as they can have large effects on ecosystem dynamics and function. The jaguar (Panthera onca) is the apex predator throughout the majority of the Neotropics; however, its distribution has been reduced by >50% and it survives in increasingly isolated populations. Consequently, the range-wide management of the jaguar depends upon maintaining core populations connected through multi-national, transboundary cooperation, which requires understanding the movement ecology and space use of jaguars throughout their range.

Movement syndromes of a Neotropical frugivorous bat inhabiting heterogeneous landscapes in Brazil.

Background: There is growing evidence that individuals within populations can vary in both habitat use and movement behavior, but it is still not clear how these two relate to each other. The aim of this study was to test if and how individual bats in a Stunira lilium population differ in their movement activity and preferences for landscape features in a correlated manner.

Methods: We collected data on movements of 27 individuals using radio telemetry.

Reconciling humans and birds when designing ecological corridors and parks within urban landscapes.

Considering the necessity of interdisciplinary approaches for planning and managing the expansion of urban landscapes worldwide, this study aimed to (1) assess landscape permeability for birds and people inhabiting a Neotropical city and (2) propose priority streets and areas for the implementation of a green infrastructure project that could benefit both. To reach these goals, we generated resistance surfaces using expert knowledge to simulate multiple least-cost corridors (MLCC) between parks and green spaces within an urban landscape for people and seven bird species. We compared the solutions using a corridors' spatial agreement analysis, which allow us to identify the overlap between modeled corridors for all organisms or functional groups of interest.

Effects of native forest and human-modified land covers on the accumulation of toxic metals and metalloids in the tropical bee Tetragonisca angustula.

The intensive shift on land cover by anthropogenic activities have led to changes in natural habitats and environmental contamination, which can ultimately impact and threat biodiversity and ecosystem services, such as pollination. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of native forest and human-modified land covers on the concentrations of chemical elements accumulated in the neotropical pollinator bee T. angustula.

Agricultural Landscape Heterogeneity Matter: Responses of Neutral Genetic Diversity and Adaptive Traits in a Neotropical Savanna Tree.

Plants are one of the most vulnerable groups to fragmentation and habitat loss, that may affect community richness, abundance, functional traits, and genetic diversity. Here, we address the effects of landscape features on adaptive quantitative traits and evolutionary potential, and on neutral genetic diversity in populations of the Neotropical savanna tree . We sampled adults and juveniles in 10 savanna remnants within five landscapes.

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics.

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown.

Multi-Scale Landscape Influences on Genetic Diversity and Adaptive Traits in a Neotropical Savanna Tree.

Changes in landscape structure can affect essential population ecological features, such as dispersal and recruitment, and thus genetic processes. Here, we analyze the effects of landscape metrics on adaptive quantitative traits variation, evolutionary potential, and on neutral genetic diversity in populations of the Neotropical savanna tree . Using a multi-scale approach, we sampled five landscapes with two sites of savanna in each.

Gaps in terrestrial soundscape research: It's time to focus on tropical wildlife.

There has been a body of research examining the sounds produced in landscapes. These sounds are commonly defined as soundscapes, however, the term is often used in different contexts. To understand the various meanings attributed to soundscapes, we identified how soundscapes are represented in the scientific literature and identified current knowledge gaps in soundscape research focusing on terrestrial environments.

Human-modified landscapes alter mammal resource and habitat use and trophic structure.

The broad negative consequences of habitat degradation on biodiversity have been studied, but the complex effects of natural-agricultural landscape matrices remain poorly understood. Here we used stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to detect changes in mammal resource and habitat use and trophic structure between preserved areas and human-modified landscapes (HMLs) in a biodiversity hot spot in South America. We classified mammals into trophic guilds and compared resource use (in terms of C- and C-derived carbon), isotopic niches, and trophic structure across the 2 systems.

Hantavirus host assemblages and human disease in the Atlantic Forest.

Several viruses from the genus Orthohantavirus are known to cause lethal disease in humans. Sigmodontinae rodents are the main hosts responsible for hantavirus transmission in the tropical forests, savannas, and wetlands of South America. These rodents can shed different hantaviruses, such as the lethal and emerging Araraquara orthohantavirus.

Habitat amount partially affects physiological condition and stress level in Neotropical fruit-eating bats.

Hematological measures are increasingly being used to analyse the impact of several stressors on the physiological condition of animals. Landscape degradation and habitat loss impacts terrestrial and volant mammals occurrence, however rarely the effects of these factors on physiological conditions and stress levels were analyzed. Here, we measured several hematological parameters to analyse the impacts of habitat amount on the physiological condition (body condition and health status) and stress level of four species of Neotropical fruit-eating bats.

Insights on the functional composition of specialist and generalist birds throughout continuous and fragmented forests.

A decline in species number often occurs after forest fragmentation and habitat loss, which usually results in the loss of ecological functions and a reduction in functional diversity in the forest fragments. However, it is uncertain whether these lost ecological functions are consistently maintained throughout continuous forests, and so the importance of these functions in continuous forests remains unknown. Point counts were used to assess both the taxonomic and functional diversity of specialist and generalist birds from sampling in a continuous primary forest compared with forest fragments in order to investigate the responses of these groups to forest fragmentation.

ATLANTIC MAMMALS: a data set of assemblages of medium- and large-sized mammals of the Atlantic Forest of South America.

Biodiversity inventories contain important information about species richness, community structure, and composition, and are the first step in developing any conservation and mitigation strategies. The Atlantic Forest of South America is home to around 334 species of small-, medium-, and large-sized mammals, and is currently restricted to less than 12% of its original cover. Here, we present the ATLANTIC MAMMALS, an open data set on information on medium- and large-sized mammal assemblages in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

NEOTROPICAL XENARTHRANS: a data set of occurrence of xenarthran species in the Neotropics.

Xenarthrans-anteaters, sloths, and armadillos-have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts with domestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across their full distribution ranges. The Neotropics harbor 21 species of armadillos, 10 anteaters, and 6 sloths.

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest.

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts.

Joint species movement modeling: how do traits influence movements?

Joint species distribution modeling has enabled researchers to move from species-level to community-level analyses, leading to statistically more efficient and ecologically more informative use of data. Here, we propose joint species movement modeling (JSMM) as an analogous approach that enables inferring both species- and community-level movement parameters from multispecies movement data. The species-level movement parameters are modeled as a function of species traits and phylogenetic relationships, allowing one to ask how species traits influence movements, and whether phylogenetically related species are similar in their movement behavior.

Atlantic butterflies: a data set of fruit-feeding butterfly communities from the Atlantic forests.

Butterflies are one of the best-known insect groups, and they have been the subject of numerous studies in ecology and evolution, especially in the tropics. Much attention has been given to the fruit-feeding butterfly guild in biodiversity conservation studies, due to the relative ease with which taxa may be identified and specimens sampled using bait traps. However, there remain many uncertainties about the macroecological and biogeographical patterns of butterflies in tropical ecosystems.