Influência de parâmetros da paisagem na ocorrência de primatas em fragmentos florestais no sul de Minas Gerais

Abstract

Forest fragmentation and habitat loss are among the major current extinction causes. Remaining fragments are mostly small, isolated and of a poor quality. Being primarily arboreal, Neotropical primates are generally sensitive to fragmentation effects. Besides, primates are involved in complex ecological process. Thus, landscape changes that negatively interfere with primate population dynamics affect the structure, composition, and ultimately the viability of the whole community. We evaluated if fragment size, isolation and visibility and matrix permeability are important for explaining the occurrence of three Neotropical primate species. Employing playback, we verified the presence of Callicebus nigrifrons, Callithrix aurita and Sapajus nigritus at 45 forest fragments around the municipality of Alfenas, Brazil. We classified the landscape and evaluated the metrics through predictive models of occurrence. We selected the best models through Akaike Selection Criterion. Aiming at validating our results, we applied the plausible models to another region (20 fragments at the neighbor municipality of Poço Fundo, Brazil). Twelve models were plausible, and three were validated, two for Sapajus nigritus "Area" and "Area+Visibility) and one for Callicebus nigrifrons ("Area+Matrix"). Our results reinforce the value of fragment size in highly degraded habitats, and stress the importance of including novel, biologically relevant metrics in landscape studies, such as visibility and matrix permeability. Such parameters can provide invaluable help for conservation studies, given their easiness for handling and excellent response.