Disentangling drivers of small mammal diversity in a highly fragmented forest system

What is it about?

Ee aim to use robust datasets of small mammals along the entire forest system to disentangle the main drivers for diversity along this gradient. We aim to disentangle whether deforestation (recent), biogeographical variables, including 19 bioclimatic variables (historic), or historical trapping bias best describe patterns of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversities using small mammal assembles, from northeastern Brazil to eastern Paraguay.

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Why is it important?

Although all dimensions of biodiversity are correlated, they have unique information and should be considered individually to better understand biodiversity and inform conservation strategies. We found that fragmentation is impactful at a local scale and becomes less important at a biogeographical scale. Therefore, climatic variables drove biogeographical faunal patterns for all clades, probably reflecting important historical assembly process at large spatial scales.

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