Vegetation Structure and Composition as Predictors of Small Mammals Assemblages
| Authors: | Fabrício Luiz Skupien, Daniela Oliveira de Lima, Bryce T. Adams, Marcus Vinícius Vieira |
| Year: | 2025 |
| Type: | Scientific Journal |
| Station: | Northern Research Station |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.70142 |
| Source: | Austral Ecology |
Abstract
Whether the diversity and composition of animal communities are determined by vegetation structure or composition has been an ongoing debate. However, due to combined shortcomings of data and methodology, vegetation structure has been prioritised when trying to understand the effects of vegetation upon animal communities. Here, we explored the relative importance of vegetation structure and woody plant species composition on the prediction of small mammal assemblages for an Atlantic Forest landscape. Compositional (small mammals and woody plants) and vegetation structural data were collected in 20 forest sites in the Guapi-Macacu river basin, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We used direct ordination techniques (co-correspondence and predictive canonical correspondence analysis) to compare the predictive capacities of vegetation structure and woody plant species composition on small mammal composition. Woody plant species composition explained more variation in small mammal composition than vegetation structure, but more importantly, woody plant species composition and vegetation structure explained different parts of the variation in small mammal composition. Therefore, vegetation structure and woody plant species composition, besides being closely linked, have complementary roles for small mammal assemblages. Among the plant species, Senefeldera verticillata, Myrcia multiflora and Guarea guidonia had the strongest influence on predictive power. Identifying such species is relevant not only statistically, but also for guiding conservation and restoration strategies that aim to sustain small mammal assemblages. We demonstrate that disentangling the role of woody plant species composition on animal community compositionmight be a complex task; nevertheless, it is a fundamental one to accurately understand the structure, and composition, of animal assemblages.