Bioindicators of edge effects within Atlantic Forest remnants: Conservation implications in a threatened biodiversity hotspot

Abstract

Aim: Deforestation of the Atlantic Forest of eastern Paraguay has been recent but extensive, resulting in a fragmented landscape highly influenced by forest edges. We examined edge effects on multiple dimensions of small mammalian diversity. Location: Forest fragments of eastern Paraguayan Atlantic Forest. Methods: We trapped small mammal species at different distances from the forest edge (DTE) in reserves and estimated multiple dimensions of diversity per site. Similarity analysis identified species clusters that best described the patterns of diversity across reserves. Multivariate ordination and linear mixed models were used to determine the influence of DTE on various dimensions of small mammal diversity. Results: There was an increase in richness and abundance along a DTE gradient, and remnants with higher edge:area ratios showed higher richness and abundance, independent of remnant size. Species at edges were generalists, open-habitat species or exotic species (spillover effect). We found higher phylogenetic diversity and functional richness and divergence towards forest edges. Spillover of non-forest and invasive species best explained richness, generalist forest species best explained total abundance, abundance of Hylaeamys megacephalus best explained diversity and evenness metrics and the presence of Marmosa paraguayana best explained various phylogenetic diversity models. None of the models that included megafauna or social factors were shown to be important in explaining patterns as a function of DTE. Main Conclusions: We found strong support for a spillover effect and mixed support for complementary resource use and enhanced habitat resources associated with ecotones. Generalists characterized edge assemblages but not all generalists were equivalent. Edges showed more phylogenetically and functionally distinct assemblages than the interior of remnants. There was a conservation of functional diversity; however, open-habitat species, habitat generalists and exotic species boosted diversity near forest edges. Mechanisms governing diversity along forest edges are complex; disentangling those mechanisms necessitates the use of multiple dimensions of diversity.