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Small mammal responses to Amazonian forest islands are modulated by their forest dependence

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Abstract

Hydroelectric dams have induced widespread loss, fragmentation and degradation of terrestrial habitats in lowland tropical forests. Yet their ecological impacts have been widely neglected, particularly in developing countries, which are currently earmarked for exponential hydropower development. Here we assess small mammal assemblage responses to Amazonian forest habitat insularization induced by the 28-year-old Balbina Hydroelectric Dam. We sampled small mammals on 25 forest islands (0.83–1466 ha) and four continuous forest sites in the mainland to assess the overall community structure and species-specific responses to forest insularization. We classified all species according to their degree of forest-dependency using a multi-scale approach, considering landscape, patch and local habitat characteristics. Based on 65,520 trap-nights, we recorded 884 individuals of at least 22 small mammal species. Species richness was best predicted by island area and isolation, with small islands (< 15 ha) harbouring an impoverished nested subset of species (mean ± SD: 2.6 ± 1.3 species), whereas large islands (> 200 ha; 10.8 ± 1.3 species) and continuous forest sites (∞ ha; 12.5 ± 2.5 species) exhibited similarly high species richness. Forest-dependent species showed higher local extinction rates and were often either absent or persisted at low abundances on small islands, where non-forest-dependent species became hyper-abundant. Species capacity to use non-forest habitat matrices appears to dictate small mammal success in small isolated islands. We suggest that ecosystem functioning may be highly disrupted on small islands, which account for 62.7% of all 3546 islands in the Balbina Reservoir.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all 15 volunteers/field assistants who assisted in the field; the Reserva Biológica do Uatumã and its staff for logistical support; M.N.F. da Silva for help with species identification and D. Storck-Tonon for assistance with landscape metrics. This study was funded by the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA), Amazonas Distribuidora de Energia S.A., and Associação Comunidade Waimiri Atroari; Rufford Foundation (grant number 13,675-1); Idea Wild; and a NERC grant (NE/J01401X/1) awarded to CAP. AFP and MB were funded by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) scholarship, and MVV was funded by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Vertebrados, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, CP 68020, CEP 21941-590, Rio De Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Ana Filipa Palmeirim & Marcus Vinícius Vieira

  2. School of Environmental Sciences, Center for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Ana Filipa Palmeirim & Carlos A. Peres

  3. Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada à Conservação, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Rodovia Ilhéus-Itabuna, km 16, Ilhéus, BA, CEP 45662-900, Brazil

    Maíra Benchimol

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  1. Ana Filipa Palmeirim
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AFP, MVV and CAP conceived and designed the experiments. AFP performed the experiments, and MB provided additional data. AFP analysed the data and wrote the manuscript under the supervision and advice of MVV and CAP; MB also provided editorial advice.

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Correspondence to Ana Filipa Palmeirim.

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Communicated by Christopher Whelan.

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Palmeirim, A.F., Benchimol, M., Vieira, M.V. et al. Small mammal responses to Amazonian forest islands are modulated by their forest dependence. Oecologia 187, 191–204 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-018-4114-6

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