Estrutura da comunidade e uso do microhabitat por pequenos mamíferos em restinga no estado de Sergipe, nordeste do Brasil

• Autor(a) principal: Calazans, Joseane de Faria
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFS
• Texto Completo: http://ri.ufs.br/jspui/handle/riufs/11330
• topic: Ecologia; Marmosops incanus; Reserva Biológica de Santa Isabel; Rhipidomys mastacalis; Sergipe (SE); Estratificação vertical; REBIO Santa Isabel; Vertical stratification; CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::ECOLOGIA

Small mammals exhibit different patterns of microhabitat use according to the intrinsic characteristics of the species and the availability of the required resources. The differences in this use have been largely related to the process of coexistence in the communities, but few studies have investigated these patterns in restinga areas. These ecosystems are still poorly explored in relation to its mammalian fauna, especially in northeastern Brazil. Thus, this study aims to characterize the structure of the small mammal community in a vegetation type of restinga on the coast of Sergipe state and to analyze how species use the microhabitat in that locality. Through the capture-marking-recapture method, the survey of small mammals was carried out monthly, from September 2017 to August 2018, with the use of Sherman and pitfall traps. Six microhabitat variables related to the resources potentially used by the species were measured at all capture stations. The similarity in species composition between areas of restinga and Atlantic Forest in the state was evaluated using the Jaccard index. The use of vertical strata (ground and understory) was compared through chi-square test and the associations of species abundance with the microhabitat characteristics were explored with Redundancy Analysis. Ten species were recorded, being the marsupial Marmosops incanus and the rodent Rhipidomys mastacalis the most abundant. The species composition is more similar to the adjacent Atlantic Forest area than the other restinga area in the state. The results indicate that these species use the vertical strata at different frequencies. In addition, variations in the abundances of these species were associated to the characteristics of the microhabitat, more specifically to the density of the understory. The latter tends to increase the abundance of M. incanus and decrease that of R. mastacalis. The approaches used suggest that the species exhibit some plasticity in habitat use and that the differential use of the arboreal stratum for movement and foraging can be a facilitator in the coexistence process in restinga areas.