The historical ecology of the world's largest tropical country uniquely chronicled by its municipal coat-of-arms symbology

Coats-of-arms representing municipal counties express local patterns of rural economics, natural resource and land use, features of the natural capital, and the cultural heritage of either aborigines or colonists. We reconstruct the subnational economic and political timeline of the world's largest tropical country using municipal coats-of-arms to reinterpret Brazil's historical ecology. We assessed all natural resource, biophysical, agricultural, and ethnocultural elements of 5,197 coats-of-arms (93.3%) distributed throughout Brazil. We extracted socioenvironmental co-variables for any municipality to understand and predict the relationships between social inequality, environmental degradation, and the historical ecology symbology. We analyzed data via ecological networks and structural equation models. Our results show that the portfolio of political-administrative symbology in coats-of-arms is an underutilized tool to understand the history of colonization frontiers. Although Brazil is arguably Earth's most species-rich country, generations of political leaders have historically failed to celebrate this biodiversity, instead prioritizing a symbology depicted by icons of frontier conquest and key natural resources. Brazilian historical ecology reflects the relentless depletion of the natural resource capital while ignoring profound social inequalities. Degradation of natural ecosystems is widespread in Brazilian economy, reflecting a legacy of boom-and-bust rural development that so far has failed to deliver sustainable socioeconomic prosperity.

Planning for Human-Wildlife Coexistence: Conceptual Framework, Workshop Process, and a Model for Transdisciplinary Collaboration

Coexistence, as a concept and as a management goal and practice, has attracted increasing attention from researchers, managers and decision-makers dedicated to understanding and improving human-wildlife interactions. Although it still lacks a universally agreed definition, coexistence has increasingly been associated with a broad spectrum of human-wildlife interactions, including positive interactions, transcending a conservation focus on endangered wildlife, and involving explicitly considerations of power, equity and justice. In a growingly complex and interconnected human-dominated world, the key to turning human-wildlife interactions into large-scale coexistence is thorough planning. We present an approach for evidence-based, structured, and participatory decision-making in planning for human-wildlife coexistence. More specifically, we propose (i) a conceptual framework for describing the situation and setting the goals, (ii) a process for examining the causes of the situation and creating a theory of change, and (iii) a model for transdisciplinary research and collaboration integrating researchers, decision-makers and residents along with the interests of wildlife. To illustrate the approach, we report on the workshop considering the Jaguars of Iguaçu, a conservation project whose strategy includes the improvement of the relationship between ranchers and jaguars outside Iguaçu National Park, Brazil.

Reconciling biome-wide conservation of an apex carnivore with land-use economics in the increasingly threatened Pantanal wetlands

Conservation of carnivores involves finding solutions to minimize habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict. Understanding the nature of land-use economics can allow us to mitigate both threats. In the Pantanal, the two main economic activities are cattle ranching and ecotourism, each of which directly and indirectly affect the persistence of jaguars (Panthera onca). To understand how the geography of these economic activities is related to jaguar populations, we developed a jaguar distribution model (JDM), livestock density model, and ecotourism lodge density model for the Pantanal. Due to the recent wildfires within the Pantanal, we also assess the impact of burnt areas that are suitable for jaguars, cattle ranching, and tourism. Our JDM indicate that 64% of the Pantanal holds suitable habitat for jaguars. However, jaguar habitat suitability was positively correlated with ecotourism, but negatively correlated with areas most suitable for intensive cattle-ranching. This demonstrates a biome-wide scenario compatible with jaguar conservation. Of particular concern, recent wildfires overlap most suitable areas for jaguars. If wildfires become increasingly frequent, this would represent a serious threat to jaguars and many other wildlife populations. We emphasize the global importance of the Pantanal wetland ecoregion as a key stronghold for long-term jaguar conservation.

Interacting elevational and latitudinal gradients determine bat diversity and distribution across the Neotropics

New World bats are heavily affected by the biophysical setting shaped by elevation and latitude. This study seeks to understand the patterns of bat species diversity across elevational, latitudinal and vegetation height gradients throughout the Neotropics. Systematically gathered putative and empirical data on bat species distribution across the entire Neotropics were examined using descriptive statistics, spatial interpolation of bat taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity, generalized linear models, generalized linear mixed models and phylogenetic generalized least squares. We uncoupled the effects of elevation, latitude and vegetation height to predict Neotropical bat diversity, showing that dietary level, home range and habitat breadth were the most important ecological traits determining coarse-scale bat distributions. Latitude was largely responsible for sorting the regional species pool, whereas elevation appears to apply an additional local filter to this regional pool wherever tropical mountains are present, thereby shaping the structure of montane assemblages. Bats provide multiple ecosystem services and our results can help pinpoint priority areas for bat research and conservation across all Neotropics, elucidate the thresholds of species distributions, and highlight bat diversity hotspots at multiple scales.

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data.

Habitat selection in natural and human-modified landscapes by capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), an important host for Amblyomma sculptum ticks

Human activities are changing landscape structure and function globally, affecting wildlife space use, and ultimately increasing human-wildlife conflicts and zoonotic disease spread. Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are linked to conflicts in human-modified landscapes (e.g. crop damage, vehicle collision), as well as the spread and amplification of Brazilian spotted fever (BSF), the most human-lethal tick-borne disease in the world. Even though it is essential to understand the link between capybaras, ticks and BSF, many knowledge gaps still exist regarding the effects of human disturbance in capybara space use. Here, we analyzed diurnal and nocturnal habitat selection strategies of capybaras across natural and human-modified landscapes using resource selection functions (RSF). Selection for forested habitats was higher across human-modified landscapes, mainly during day- periods, when compared to natural landscapes. Across natural landscapes, capybaras avoided forests during both day- and night periods. Water was consistently selected across both landscapes, during day- and nighttime. Distance to water was also the most important variable in predicting capybara habitat selection across natural landscapes. Capybaras showed slightly higher preferences for areas near grasses/shrubs across natural landscapes, and distance to grasses/shrubs was the most important variable in predicting capybara habitat selection across human-modified landscapes. Our results demonstrate human-driven variation in habitat selection strategies by capybaras. This behavioral adjustment across human-modified landscapes may be related to increases in A. sculptum density, ultimately affecting BSF.

Small vertebrates are key elements in the frugivory networks of a hyperdiverse tropical forest

The local, global or functional extinction of species or populations of animals, known as defaunation, can erode important ecological services in tropical forests. Many mutualistic interactions, such as seed dispersal of large seeded plants, can be lost in large continuous forests due to the rarity of large-bodied mammalian frugivores. Most of studies that try to elucidate the effects of defaunation on seed dispersal focused on primates or birds, and we lack a detailed understanding on the interactions between ground-dwelling fauna and fleshy fruits. Using camera traps in forest areas with different degrees of defaunation, we described the organization of frugivory networks involving birds, mammals and plants. We recorded 375 frugivory interactions between 21 frugivores and 150 fruiting trees of 30 species of fleshy fruit plants in six sites in continuous Atlantic forest of Brazil. We found that small frugivores-particularly small rodents and birds-were responsible for 72% of the events of frugivory. Large frugivores, such as tapirs and peccaries, were responsible for less than 21% of frugivory events. Our results indicate that the interactions between flesh fruiting plants and frugivores are dominated by small frugivores, an indication of a functional loss of large frugivores in this endangered biome.

Rickettsia rickettsii (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae) Infecting Amblyomma sculptum (Acari: Ixodidae) Ticks and Capybaras in a Brazilian Spotted Fever-Endemic Area of Brazil

The bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii is the agent of Brazilian spotted fever (BSF), a highly fatal disease that is transmitted in Brazil mainly by the tick Amblyomma sculptum Berlese, which uses capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris Linnaeus) as major hosts. In 2015, we captured nine capybaras in a BSF-endemic area of southeastern Brazil. From each capybara, we collected blood sera that were tested through the immunofluorescence assay using Rickettsia spp. antigens, and A. sculptum ticks, processed for isolation of R. rickettsii through guinea pig inoculation. All capybaras (100%) were seroreactive to Rickettsia spp., with highest titers to R. rickettsii. A total of 166 A. sculptum ticks were macerated and inoculated into nine guinea pigs, from which only one presented high fever and seroconverted to R. rickettsii. Blood from this febrile animal was inoculated into additional guinea pigs (guinea pig passages), which also became febrile and seroconverted, or when euthanized during the fever period, their internal organs (spleen, lung) were shown to contain R. rickettsii DNA. The present rickettsial isolate has been maintained cryopreserved as infected guinea pig organs. There was at least one R. rickettsii-infected tick among the 166 macerated ticks, giving a minimal infection rate of 0.6% (1/166). This infection rate is within the range of previous studies, which reported that only 0.05% to at most 1.28% A. sculptum ticks were infected by R. rickettsii in other BSF-endemic areas. These low infection rates support the low incidence of BSF, despite of A. sculptum being the most frequent human-biting tick in southeastern Brazil.

Highly disparate bird assemblages in sugarcane and pastures: implications for bird conservation in agricultural landscapes

Sugarcane and cattle pastures are two of the most widespread and economically important agricultural landscapes. However, in Brazil, they have not been properly investigated for their importance to native birds and wildlife conservation. Thus, we aim to characterize and compare bird assemblages of sugarcane and cattle pastures; and understand how landscape features within both habitats influence bird assemblages. We surveyed birds in both agricultural habitats over one year, and then investigated the relationship between species richness and composition with landscape diversity, matrix permeability, and the size and distribution of natural forests close to both habitats. We observed 132 species in cattle pastures and only 72 in sugarcane (48% bird community similarity). We further evaluated the richness and relative abundance of avian ecological groups, including habitat specialists and habitat generalists, insectivores, omnivores, granivores and frugivores. All avian groups were higher in pastures, the habitat where landscape heterogeneity and number of scattered trees was higher. Our results show that overall increasing landscape heterogeneity favors an assemblage with higher richness and composed by species with more diverse ecological functions. Therefore, we argue in favor of management practices that incorporate heterogeneity in agricultural landscapes, mainly in sugarcane fields where a homogeneous scheme has been used. Otherwise, the potential of agricultural landscapes for bird conservation will be highly hindered, particularly if the sugarcane sector expands to other agricultural lands.

Large Terrestrial Bird Adapting Behavior in an Urbanized Zone

Simple Summary

As the world becomes increasingly urbanized and encroaches on natural environments, wildlife face pressure to adapt to human activities. Understanding the adaptation processes of wildlife living in urban areas is an important step in the implementation of management decisions and regulatory policies, which should aim to minimise human–wildlife conflicts in cities. We investigated a rare case of the Red-legged Seriema, a large-sized terrestrial bird, occurring in an urbanized zone in a Neotropical city. We described their behaviors and assessed their distribution based on hundreds of data provided by citizen scientists. We discovered that Seriemas are occurring in the same space occupied by many free-ranging cats within the study area, which are being supported by humans offering food provisions. Humans are also providing food for Seriemas directly. The species is also benefiting from using human-made structures to improve their behavior related to territory defense and opportunistic foraging. However, some are still unable to avoid car collisions, which is a threat to their persistence in this area. Our study suggests that humans may be contributing to the domestication process of Seriemas, which may lead to them losing fear of humans, but not necessarily acquiring behavior that is advantageous to survival in cities.

Abstract

Wildlife living within urban ecosystems have to adapt or perish. Red-legged Seriema, a large terrestrial bird, are rare in urban ecosystems, however, they have been reported in a medium-sized Brazilian city. We investigated the reasons for this occurrence as well as their behavior. We assessed the distribution of Seriemas (including fledglings), free-ranging cats, and cat-feeding points provided by humans, and past records of Seriemas in the study area. We discovered that Seriemas are sharing spatial resources with cats without apparent conflicts, and intraspecific competition was important to define the spatial distribution of Seriemas. This species is able to use human-made structures to improve territory defense and opportunistic foraging. Direct and indirect human food provisioning is helping them to survive in the studied area, but is also facilitating the domestication process, which may cause future conflicts with humans and cats. Although Seriemas have inhabited the studied urban area for years, they are still adapting their behaviors for urban life, as they have not yet perceived the dangers of automotive traffic. Our study corroborates that wild species may adapt to urban areas driven by human contact, but it also acts as a trap for the adaptive process.

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. Our data set includes the families Chlamyphoridae (13), Dasypodidae (7), Myrmecophagidae (3), Bradypodidae (4), and Megalonychidae (2). We have no occurrence data on Dasypus pilosus (Dasypodidae). Regarding Cyclopedidae, until recently, only one species was recognized, but new genetic studies have revealed that the group is represented by seven species. In this data paper, we compiled a total of 42,528 records of 31 species, represented by occurrence and quantitative data, totaling 24,847 unique georeferenced records. The geographic range is from the southern United States, Mexico, and Caribbean countries at the northern portion of the Neotropics, to the austral distribution in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. Regarding anteaters, Myrmecophaga tridactyla has the most records (n = 5,941), and Cyclopes sp. have the fewest (n = 240). The armadillo species with the most data is Dasypus novemcinctus (n = 11,588), and the fewest data are recorded for Calyptophractus retusus (n = 33). With regard to sloth species, Bradypus variegatus has the most records (n = 962), and Bradypus pygmaeus has the fewest (n = 12). Our main objective with Neotropical Xenarthrans is to make occurrence and quantitative data available to facilitate more ecological research, particularly if we integrate the xenarthran data with other data sets of Neotropical Series that will become available very soon (i.e., Neotropical Carnivores, Neotropical Invasive Mammals, and Neotropical Hunters and Dogs). Therefore, studies on trophic cascades, hunting pressure, habitat loss, fragmentation effects, species invasion, and climate change effects will be possible with the Neotropical Xenarthrans data set. Please cite this data paper when using its data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using these data.

A biodiversity hotspot losing its top predator: The challenge of jaguar conservation in the Atlantic Forest of South America

The jaguar is the top predator of the Atlantic Forest (AF), which is a highly threatened biodiversity hotspot that occurs in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. By combining data sets from 14 research groups across the region, we determine the population status of the jaguar and propose a spatial prioritization for conservation actions. About 85% of the jaguar's habitat in the AF has been lost and only 7% remains in good condition. Jaguars persist in around 2.8% of the region, and live in very low densities in most of the areas. The population of jaguars in the AF is probably lower than 300 individuals scattered in small sub-populations. We identified seven Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs) and seven potential JCUs, and only three of these areas may have ≥50 individuals. A connectivity analysis shows that most of the JCUs are isolated. Habitat loss and fragmentation were the major causes for jaguar decline, but human induced mortality is the main threat for the remaining population. We classified areas according to their contribution to jaguar conservation and we recommend management actions for each of them. The methodology in this study could be used for conservation planning of other carnivore species.

Capybaras in an anthropogenic habitat in Southeastern Brazil

Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are widely distributed in the Neotropics, living in both natural and anthropogenic habitats. In the present study, we monitored the fluctuating capybara population at the Campus "Luiz de Queiroz", University of São Paulo, in Piracicaba, Southeastern Brazil from 1998 to 2000. To assess population fluctuation and growth rates, we used an abundance index based on direct weekly daylight counts. Population monitoring was carried out in an anthropogenic wetland associated with an agroecosystem. The observers bias was established as directly related to their distance from the animals. The capybara population density and biomass in the anthropogenic wetland in question were found to be significantly higher than in pristine habitats. The species seems to present a seasonal pattern of fluctuation, with a peak in late spring (Oct to Dec). Unlike young capybaras, adults and juveniles present similar seasonal fluctuation patterns. In this anthropogenic wetland, the carrying capacity may be as high as 195 individuals/Km2. At a conservative exploitation rate (17%) in anthropogenic wetlands of Southeastern Brazil, capybara productivity may reach approximately 630 Kg/Km2/year.