Habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and species invasions have been recognized as three of the leading threats to biodiversity. I examined the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on native and invasive plants in central Texas. During the last century, the density and abundance of woody plants has been increasing in the savannas of eastern Edwards Plateau. This process, known as woody plant encroachment, not only reduces the amount of open herbaceous habitat but also fragments that habitat creating smaller and more isolated patches. In three studies, I investigated the consequences of this habitat loss and fragmentation for plants which do not occur under the cover of woody plants including native grasses and forbs and the invasive Eurasian bunchgrass, Bothriochloa ischaemum (King Ranch Bluestem). In the first study, I show that woody plant encroachment reduces native herbaceous species richness (the number of species in a given area). Using a collection of historical aerial photographs, I demonstrate that current native herbaceous species richness was most strongly related to recent habitat amount, but to the degree of habitat fragmentation at least 50 years ago. In a second study, I show that the presence of B. ischaemum was negatively related to the degree of fragmentation in the surrounding landscape. Finally, I found that B. ischaemum had higher rates of germination and growth in experimental plots where the species commonly lost with woody plant encroachment were removed than in unmanipulated control plots. Together, this work suggests that woody plant encroachment is directly slowing the spread of an invasive species while indirectly facilitating its establishment. / text

Apesar da vasta literatura sobre os efeitos da perda e fragmentação florestal sobre a biodiversidade, poucos estudos incorporaram o aspecto temporal, ou seja, a história da paisagem, em suas análises. No entanto, o histórico de alterações da paisagem é um dos fatores que, ao ser ignorado, pode levar a interpretação errada dos reais efeitos da perda e fragmentação florestal sobre a diversidade de espécies. Assim, o objetivo desta tese foi avaliar os efeitos do histórico de mudança da paisagem sobre aves e pequenos mamíferos na Mata Atlântica. Para atingir este objetivo eu investiguei (1) a dinâmica de três paisagens fragmentadas de Mata Atlântica entre 1960-1980 e 1980-2000, (2) os efeitos da cobertura florestal passada e atual sobre a riqueza de espécies de espécies e, (3) a plausibilidade de modelos de cobertura vegetal nativa na riqueza de espécies e abundância, considerando ou não a heterogeneidade da vegetação nativa. Para investigar essas questões, foram usados dados de aves e pequenos mamíferos em 53 fragmentos florestais localizados em três paisagens com diferentes proporções de cobertura florestal (10, 30 e 50%) na Mata Atlântica do Planalto Atlântico de São Paulo. Os resultados mostraram que (1) a trajetória da cobertura florestal entre os anos 1960 e 2000 nas três paisagens estudadas foi não-linear e, atualmente, fragmentos florestais consistem de um mosaico de florestas com diferentes idades de regeneração, (2) a existência do débito de extinção e do crédito de espécies, assim como o potencial para o seu pagamento futuro, depende não só da trajetória de cobertura florestal, mas também da cobertura florestal remanescente na escala da paisagem, e (3) a heterogeneidade da vegetação nativa desempenha um papel importante na definição da riqueza de espécies e abundância e que as respostas a essa heterogeneidade são definidas pelos requerimentos de habitat e dependem de cobertura florestal da paisagem. / Despite the extended literature on the effects of forest loss and fragmentation on biodiversity, few studies incorporated the temporal aspect, i.e. the history of change of habitat amount and configuration over time at a given landscape, in the analysis. However, ignoring landscape change history might lead to inaccurate interpretation of the impact of forest loss and fragmentation on species diversity. Thus, the aim of this thesis was to evaluate the effects of landscape change history on birds and small mammals in the Atlantic Forest. To achieve this aim I investigated (1) the land-use and land-cover change dynamics in Atlantic Forest fragmented landscapes between 1960s-1980s and 1980s-2000s, (2) the effects of historical and present-day forest cover on species richness and, (3) the potential of explaining species richness and abundance patterns by inclusion or exclusion of present native vegetation heterogeneity in model frameworks. To address these objectives I used data on birds and small mammals in 53 forest fragments from three landscapes with different proportions of forest cover (10, 30 and 50%) in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. The results showed that (1) forest cover trajectory between the 1960s and 2000s at the three study landscapes was non-linear and that individual forest patches currently consist of a mosaic of different forest age classes, (2) the existence of extinction debt and species credit as well as the potential for their future payment depends not only on forest cover trajectory but also on the present amount of remaining forest cover at the landscape scale, and (3) the heterogeneity within native vegetation plays an important role in defining species richness and abundance in fragmented landscapes and responses to this heterogeneity are defined by habitat requirements and depend on forest cover at landscape scale.

The impact of habitat fragmentation and the success of habitat restoration were studied through a multi-taxonomic approach. The response to landscape structure and/or habitat quality of three taxonomic groups was explored, in (semi-)natural habitats. The three taxonomic groups were complementary, both in terms of their specific life history traits and their place in the food chain. We considered autotrophic species (vascular plants), herbivores (butterflies) and predators (spiders). Life-history traits and species specialization for target habitat were used to refine the analysis. Target habitat was a complex of wet heathlands, poor fens and bogs. Patches of this complex of habitats were sampled on two high plateaus in the Belgian Ardenne, the Plateau de Saint-Hubert and the Plateau des Tailles. Over the last 250 years, two jointly acting habitat dynamics were observed in these areas: a loss of area (and connectivity) on the one hand but also the creation of new habitat patches. It is precisely this double dynamics that enabled us to analyze and develop concepts linked to the response of species faced with spatio-temporal modifications of their habitat. Specifically, in this work we focused on the comprehension of two unbalanced situations, affecting the relationships between species richness and patch characteristics. A first unbalanced situation, the extinction debt, was observed for vascular plant communities. On the opposite, a colonization credit, the second unbalanced situation, was noted for butterflies and seemed to mainly affect specialist species. Specialist species of the three taxonomic groups showed relatively contrasted responses compared to generalist species. However, the life-history traits we studied only slightly influenced the response of species at the community level, excepted for pioneer communities in habitat patches less than 5 years old.

Apesar da vasta literatura sobre os efeitos da perda e fragmentação florestal sobre a biodiversidade, poucos estudos incorporaram o aspecto temporal, ou seja, a história da paisagem, em suas análises. No entanto, o histórico de alterações da paisagem é um dos fatores que, ao ser ignorado, pode levar a interpretação errada dos reais efeitos da perda e fragmentação florestal sobre a diversidade de espécies. Assim, o objetivo desta tese foi avaliar os efeitos do histórico de mudança da paisagem sobre aves e pequenos mamíferos na Mata Atlântica. Para atingir este objetivo eu investiguei (1) a dinâmica de três paisagens fragmentadas de Mata Atlântica entre 1960-1980 e 1980-2000, (2) os efeitos da cobertura florestal passada e atual sobre a riqueza de espécies de espécies e, (3) a plausibilidade de modelos de cobertura vegetal nativa na riqueza de espécies e abundância, considerando ou não a heterogeneidade da vegetação nativa. Para investigar essas questões, foram usados dados de aves e pequenos mamíferos em 53 fragmentos florestais localizados em três paisagens com diferentes proporções de cobertura florestal (10, 30 e 50%) na Mata Atlântica do Planalto Atlântico de São Paulo. Os resultados mostraram que (1) a trajetória da cobertura florestal entre os anos 1960 e 2000 nas três paisagens estudadas foi não-linear e, atualmente, fragmentos florestais consistem de um mosaico de florestas com diferentes idades de regeneração, (2) a existência do débito de extinção e do crédito de espécies, assim como o potencial para o seu pagamento futuro, depende não só da trajetória de cobertura florestal, mas também da cobertura florestal remanescente na escala da paisagem, e (3) a heterogeneidade da vegetação nativa desempenha um papel importante na definição da riqueza de espécies e abundância e que as respostas a essa heterogeneidade são definidas pelos requerimentos de habitat e dependem de cobertura florestal da paisagem. / Despite the extended literature on the effects of forest loss and fragmentation on biodiversity, few studies incorporated the temporal aspect, i.e. the history of change of habitat amount and configuration over time at a given landscape, in the analysis. However, ignoring landscape change history might lead to inaccurate interpretation of the impact of forest loss and fragmentation on species diversity. Thus, the aim of this thesis was to evaluate the effects of landscape change history on birds and small mammals in the Atlantic Forest. To achieve this aim I investigated (1) the land-use and land-cover change dynamics in Atlantic Forest fragmented landscapes between 1960s-1980s and 1980s-2000s, (2) the effects of historical and present-day forest cover on species richness and, (3) the potential of explaining species richness and abundance patterns by inclusion or exclusion of present native vegetation heterogeneity in model frameworks. To address these objectives I used data on birds and small mammals in 53 forest fragments from three landscapes with different proportions of forest cover (10, 30 and 50%) in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. The results showed that (1) forest cover trajectory between the 1960s and 2000s at the three study landscapes was non-linear and that individual forest patches currently consist of a mosaic of different forest age classes, (2) the existence of extinction debt and species credit as well as the potential for their future payment depends not only on forest cover trajectory but also on the present amount of remaining forest cover at the landscape scale, and (3) the heterogeneity within native vegetation plays an important role in defining species richness and abundance in fragmented landscapes and responses to this heterogeneity are defined by habitat requirements and depend on forest cover at landscape scale.

Ecosystèmes et sociétés humaines interagissent de façon bidirectionnelle, notamment via la perte de biodiversité et de services écosystémiques. Au sein de cette boucle de rétroaction, les interactions d'échelles (spatiales et temporelles) mènent à des découplages qui peuvent réduire le bien-être humain et la durabilité des systèmes socio-écologiques (SSEs). Par une approche de modélisation, cette thèse explore les conséquences de long terme de telles interactions d'échelle. Nous montrons que le découplage temporel dû aux dettes d'extinction peut mener à des effondrements. De plus, ces découplages temporels réduisent la capacité d'adaptation du système, rendant plus probables des transitions soudaines vers des trajectoires non durables. Cependant, la conservation des habitats naturels et l'internalisation économique des conséquences de la perte de biodiversité permettent d'éviter ou de réduire ces crises. Cette étude met en évidence le rôle des rétroactions et des interactions d'échelles dans les SSEs, et insiste sur l'importance d'une vision de long terme pour la durabilité des sociétés humaines. / Human-nature interactions form a feedback loop that is driven by the loss of biodiversity-dependent ecosystem services. These interactions occur over many spatial and temporal scales, and mismatches between the scales of human dynamics and ecological processes can contribute to a decrease in human well-being and sustainability. This thesis investigates theoretically the long-term consequences of biodiversity feedbacks on the sustainability of social-ecological systems (SESs). Temporal mismatches resulting from extinction debts can generate unsustainable human population cycles, especially in the most technology-intensive SESs. Moreover, temporal mismatches postpone desirable behavioral changes and reduce resilience, thus increasing the probability of abrupt regime shifts towards unsustainable trajectories. However, natural habitat conservation, e.g. through land set aside or the economic internalization of biodiversity feedbacks, can help prevent or mitigate such crises. This thesis thus emphasizes the role of feedbacks and scales in human-nature interactions, and highlights the importance of foresight for the sustainability of human societies.

As florestas tropicais contêm mais da metade de todas as espécies terrestres existentes, mas sofrem com a crescente influência das atividades humanas. A destruição e a degradação de habitats são, atualmente, as principais ameaças à biodiversidade. Embora exista uma extensa literatura sobre extinção de espécies em paisagens antropizadas, muitos aspectos ainda foram pouco estudados. Desta forma, buscamos contribuir para o entendimento sobre: i) o atraso e as taxas de extinções locais de espécies após a perda e a fragmentação do habitat florestal; e ii) como as interações entre variáveis de fragmentação e de degradação do habitat (perda de qualidade do habitat) podem agravar a taxa de extinção local de espécies. Para responder a estas questões, amostramos grupos de aves em uma paisagem intensamente fragmentada ao norte do Estado do Mato Grosso, no Arco do Desmatamento Amazônico. Para quantificar o débito de extinção, inventariamos as espécies de papa-formigas em dez pontos de escuta, durante três dias, em 29 localidades amostrais, durante dois períodos separados por quase uma década. Avaliamos o legado do histórico de fragmentação da paisagem na extinção local de espécies por meio de um modelo que considera o tamanho do fragmento e o tempo desde o seu isolamento. Para investigar o papel das interações entre a degradação e a fragmentação de habitats na extinção de espécies, consideramos a assembleia de aves de sub-bosque, inventariadas por redes-de-neblina durante 14.400 horas em 30 localidades amostrais. Utilizamos a seleção de modelos para determinar quais interações e variáveis de degradação e de fragmentação são melhores preditoras do número de espécies, abundância e a composição da avifauna nos fragmentos. Nossos resultados revelaram que há duas etapas para a extinção de espécies: a extinção imediata e a extinção com atraso. Mesmo considerando a extinção com atraso, mais da metade das espécies desaparece em menos de duas décadas nos fragmentos, independentemente do tamanho do fragmento. Encontramos que a grande maioria das espécies nos fragmentos pequenos (<150 ha) foi extinta localmente logo após o isolamento, enquanto que nos fragmentos grandes, a perda de espécies ocorre com o tempo e as taxas de extinção local são mais elevadas. Ademais, os efeitos das interações entre as variáveis de degradação e fragmentação de habitat contribuem para a extinção local de espécies na paisagem estudada. Identificamos que o sinergismo entre o tamanho do remanescente florestal e a incidência de fogo é a principal causa da extinção de espécies nos fragmentos. No entanto, a abundância e a composição de espécies na comunidade foram, principalmente, influenciadas pelas interações aditivas entre o tamanho do fragmento e a presença de gado. Observamos também que as alterações causadas pela presença do gado nos fragmentos resultam na substituição de espécies especialistas de habitat florestal e típicas de sub-bosque por espécies que habitam o dossel, bordas e áreas perturbadas. As implicações de nossos resultados para a conservação são: o intervalo de oportunidade para mitigação dos efeitos da fragmentação e perda de habitat, sobre os papa-formigas, devido ao débito de extinção, mesmo que ainda presente, é muito curto para a implementação de ações eficazes para conservação, especialmente para os fragmentos pequenos, onde a perda da maioria das espécies ocorre imediatamente após o isolamento do fragmento. Portanto, ações de conservação deveriam otimizar seus esforços em fragmentos grandes (>150 ha), onde há maior chance de resguardar as espécies já comprometidas com a extinção. Além disso, as espécies nos fragmentos pequenos são negativamente e de forma mais intensa influenciadas pelos efeitos interativos com a incidência de fogo e penetração do gado. Concluímos que a preservação apenas dos remanescentes florestais não é suficiente para conservação da biodiversidade. Assim, as políticas públicas devem ser direcionadas à coibição de novos desmatamentos e queimadas, além do incentivo para a utilização de cercas ao redor dos remanescentes florestais em propriedades privadas / Tropical forests contain over half of all terrestrial species on Earth, but are succumbing to the growing impact of human activities. Habitat destruction and degradation are the main current threats to biodiversity. While there is an extensive literature on species extinction in human-modified landscapes, many aspects are yet to be explored. This study aims to contribute to our understanding of (i) the rates of time-lagged local extinctions of species in the aftermath of habitat loss and fragmentation; and (ii) the combined effects of habitat fragmentation and degradation (i.e. reduction in habitat quality) in aggravating rates of local extinctions. To develop this research, we sampled different functional groups of forest birds within an intensively fragmented landscape representative of the Arc of Deforestation of southern Brazilian Amazonia. To quantify the magnitude of extinction debt we inventoried antbirds at 29 forest sites during two periods, separated by nearly a decade. At each site, we carried out ten standardized point-counts over three days, which were validated with simultaneous digital recordings. We examined species extinction rates induced by historical landscape fragmentation using a model that considers forest fragment size and time since their isolation. In relation to interactions between habitat degradation and fragmentation, we considered all understorey birds inventoried by mist-nets during 14,400 hours at 30 sampling locations. We used model selection to determine which metrics and interactions of forest degradation (intensity of fires, selective logging and cattle presence within the forest remnants) and fragmentation (fragment size, amount of surrounding forest cover) best predicted the number, abundance and composition of species in the fragments. Our results revealed that there are two main stages for species extinctions: immediately after and time-lagged forest isolation. Even where there is a delay in species extinctions, over half of all species disappeared within less than two decades post-isolation, regardless of forest fragment size. We also found that the majority of species in small fragments (<150 ha) disappear immediately after isolation, whereas species losses in large fragments occur over time and they present higher local extinction rates. Moreover, interactions between habitat degradation and habitat fragmentation contributed to the local species extinctions in the studied landscape. Forest patch size operated synergistically with fire incidence as the main cause of local extinctions in fragments. However, the composition and abundance of species was influenced by the additive interactions between fragment size and cattle intrusion, which resulted in the replacement of understorey forest specialists with generalist species typically found in disturbed areas. The conservation implications of our results include: there is a narrow window of opportunity for mitigating the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on antbirds, especially for small fragments, where most species were lost immediately after isolation. Conservation actions should be focused on large fragments (> 150 ha) where there is greater potential for retaining species committed to extinction. Also, species in small fragments were more affected by the detrimental effects of fire incidence and cattle intrusion. We therefore conclude that the preservation of remaining forest fragments in itself is not enough for forest biodiversity conservation; public policy should be directed to fire suppression and fencing to deter cattle access to remaining forest fragments within private proprieties

Orientador: Adriano Garcia Chiarello / Resumo: O efeito da redução do habitat natural na biodiversidade é idiossincrática a respeito das relações que se estabelecem entre as espécies e as características das paisagens modificadas pelo homem. Nesse contexto, as evidências científicas evidenciam cada vez mais a importância de se utilizar não somente a escala espacial na interpretação das respostas da biodiversidade, mas também a escala temporal. A correlação dos parâmetros biológicos atuais com características do ambiente pretérito mostra que respostas atrasadas das espécies às modificações podem ocorrer após um distúrbio ambiental, o que como consequência, gera interpretação errôneas da relação das espécies com os ambientes da paisagem no presente, o que vem a comprometer as subsequentes tomadas de decisão de viés conservacionista. A fim de compreender como espécies de mamíferos de médio e grande porte neotropicais estão respondendo à paisagens de Cerrado que passaram por redução de habitat ao longo de um intervalo temporal de 48 anos, a presente tese objetivou em seus capítulos: (i) caracterizar a trajetória e a transição das classes de cobertura e uso do solo de três paisagens modificadas pelo homem, (ii) Detectar a existência de respostas atrasadas de sete espécies de mamíferos neotropicais de médio e grande porte em relação ao ambiente nativo dessas três paisagens e (iii) detectar a existência de limiares ecológicos nas respostas de seis espécies de mamíferos neotropicais a ambientes nativo e antrópico. As três paisage... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The effect of habitat reduction on biodiversity is idiosyncratic regarding the established relationships among species and the traits of human-modified landscapes. In this manner novel scientific evidences point to the importance of considering not only the spatial scale on the interpretation of species responses, but also the temporal scale. The correlation between biological parameters of the present and environmental traits of the past show that species might present delayed responses after a disturbance event, and as consequence, species responses to current landscape traits may be misleading for conservation purposes and environmental management actions. In order to understand how the neotropical medium and large-sized mammals are responding to human-modified landscapes of Cerrado under a 48-years interval of disturbance, the present dissertation aimed in their three chapters: (i) to describe land use and land cover trajectory and native vegetation transition of three human-modified landscapes, (ii) to detect the existence of time-lagged responses among seven neotropical medium and large-sized mammal species to their the natural environment and (iii) to detect the existence of ecological threshold responses of six neotropical medium and large-sized mammal species to natural and human-modified environments. The three studied landscapes are located in the northeastern region of São Paulo State and harbor important protected remnants of Cerrado and Atlantic Rainforest under... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

En Europe tempérée, les paysages sont dominés par une mosaïque de forêts, prairies et cultures depuis plusieurs siècles. Cette longue période de temps a permis la spécialisation d'espèces au sein des habitats et de leurs interfaces grâce à de forts contrastes environnementaux. Cependant, de fréquents changements d'occupation du sol ont eu lieu par le passé, lesquels se sont accélérés dans les dernières décennies, remettant en cause la stabilité des communautés végétales et de leur environnement. L'afforestation d'anciennes prairies et l'extension de prairies par déforestation, le plus souvent issues de la progression et de la régression d'anciennes lisières, n'ont que peu été étudiées. Au sein des interfaces foret-prairie, en plus d'un effet lisière induit au sein de chaque habitat par la proximité de l'habitat adjacent, un effet histoire peut s'ajouter au sein des habitats récents, c'est-à-dire un héritage environnemental et/ou floristique (dette d'extinction, crédit de colonisation). Au sein des lisières d'habitats récents, une interaction entre effet lisière et effet histoire peut également être rencontrée. Dans cette thèse, les objectifs ont été d'évaluer l'influence relative de l'effet lisière et de l'effet histoire le long d'interfaces forêt-prairie stables, issues d'afforestation et issues de déforestation en s'intéressant (i) aux conditions environnementales, (ii) à la richesse et à la composition floristique des communautés végétales, et (iii) aux valeurs de traits au sein des communautés. Nos résultats ont montré des gradients croissants d'intensité lumineuse et de nutriments des sols allant des lisières aux cœurs de prairies. En réponse à ces gradients, un fort effet lisière sur la composition des communautés végétales a été trouvé en prairie. Ces différences floristiques entre lisières et cœurs de prairies s'expliquent par la présence d'un grand nombre d'espèces transgressives parmi les espèces spécialistes de forêt, lesquelles ont des valeurs de traits favorisant leur transgression en prairie. A côté de cela, une dette d'extinction d'espèces spécialistes de prairie a été trouvée au sein des forêts récentes, laquelle est responsable d'une hauteur végétative plus importante par rapport aux forêts anciennes. Ces résultats s'expliquent par une intensité lumineuse restée plus élevée au sein des forêts récentes, même après plusieurs décennies. Une dette d'extinction d'espèces spécialistes de forêt a aussi été mise en évidence en lisière de prairie récente, laquelle est le résultat d'une interaction entre effet lisière et effet histoire. En prairie récente, l'effet lisière favorise le maintien des espèces forestières. D'après nos résultats, les lisières de forêt et de prairie, dont la plupart ont subit un déplacement au cours des deux derniers siècles, hébergent de nombreuses espèces végétales spécialistes des habitats anciens, parfois en dette d'extinction. Une réévaluation de la distribution des espèces au sein des communautés végétales de forêts et prairies semble alors nécessaire en tenant en compte de l'histoire des habitats. Face à l'instabilité croissante des forêts et prairies, l'identification des espèces en dette d'extinction représente une chance pour la conservation et la restauration de la biodiversité végétale / In temperate Europe, landscapes are dominated by a mosaic of forests, grasslands and crops since several centuries. This long period of time allowed the specialization of species within the habitats and their interfaces thanks to strong environmental contrasts. However, there have been frequent land-use changes in the past, which have accelerated in recent decades, challenging the stability of plant communities and their environment. The afforestation of former grasslands and the extension of grasslands by deforestation, mostly resulting from the progression and regression of the edges, have been poorly studied. In the forest-grassland interfaces, in addition to an edge effect induced in each habitat by the proximity to the adjacent habitat, a history effect can be added in recent habitats, i.e. an environmental and/or floristic legacy (extinction debt, colonization credit). In the recent habitat edges, an interaction between edge effect and history effect can also be encountered. In this thesis, the objectives were to evaluate the relative abundance of the edge effect and the history effect along forest-grassland interfaces stable, from afforestation process and from deforestation process, by studying (i) environmental conditions, (ii) the richness and floristic composition of plant communities, and (iii) trait values within communities. Our results showed increasing gradients of light intensity and soil nutrients ranging from grassland edges to grassland cores. In response to these gradients, a strong edge effect on the composition of plant communities was found in grasslands. These floristic differences between grassland edges and grassland cores are explained by the presence of a large number of transgressive species among the forest specialist species, which have trait values favoring their transgression in grasslands. Besides this, an extinction debt of grassland specialist species has been found in recent forests, which is responsible for a higher vegetative height compared to ancient forests. These results can be explained by the fact that light intensity remained higher in recent forests, even after several decades. An extinction debt of forest specialist species has also been demonstrated in the recent grassland edges, which is the result of an interaction between edge effect and history effect. In recent grasslands, the edge effect favors the maintenance of forest species. According to our findings, forest and grassland edges, most of which have been displaced over the past two centuries, are home to many plant species that are habitat specialists, sometimes in extinction debt. A re-evaluation of the distribution of species within forest and grassland plant communities then seems necessary, taking into account the history of habitats. In a context of increasing forests and grasslands instability, the identification of species in extinction debt represents an opportunity for the conservation and restoration of plant biodiversity

In recent decades expanding land-use change has caused extensive deforestation of the tropical rainforestinducing large-scale transformation of the landscape patterns across the South American continent. Landscapechange is a modification process of the natural forest cover into fragments which generate various ecologicalimpacts. Habitat loss is identified to be a major threat to biodiversity, as it exposes species to the risk ofextinction. This study investigates 80 locations within tropical rainforest biomes to examine the landscape changewhich has occurred from 1993 – 2014. The intention is to identify the impacts of landscape fragmentation onhummingbird species diversity by spatial landscape analysis in GIS and regression modeling. The analysis foundthat there is no relationship between deforestation and reduction of hummingbird diversity. The results indicatethat hummingbird species are not particularly sensitive to landscape change as they have high resilience in regardto forest fragmentation. A potential threshold value of deforestation degree could be identified, up to whichhummingbird species richness increased, but locations subjected to over 40% fragmentation were estimated tohave lower hummingbird diversity. However, by using the spatial explicit biological data, the analysis indicatethat an extinction debt may exist in the landscape, and that future extinctions may be expected to occur in thefollowing decades as consequence of deforestation. Other factors may be as important determining variables forspecies richness: the spatial scale of the study, the habitat connectivity, hummingbird generalist tendencies.Conclusively, identification of the key factors of deforestation impacts on species diversity is essential for futureefficiency in conservation planning and sustainability of the tropical rainforest biodiversity.

Orientador: Tadeu de Siqueira Barros / Resumo: Esta tese busca entender a estruturação de comunidades de riachos em paisagens modificadas enquanto contabiliza possíveis assincronias entre ambas. Logo, ela questiona os pressupostos de que (i) é necessário incluir características das paisagens passadas para alcançar uma abordagem mais completa dos fatores estruturadores das comunidades atuais e (ii) alternativamente, de que lapsos temporais nas respostas das comunidades devem ser considerados para compreender a total magnitude dos efeitos de uma dada mudança da paisagem. Além disso, são explorados condicionantes relacionados à caracterização do histórico da paisagem, ao tipo de descritor da comunidade e à complexidade do sistema ecológico. Em seu primeiro manuscrito, esta tese confirma tais pressupostos enquanto apresenta o primeiro registro de respostas tardias de insetos aquáticos em região tropical. Nele, eu demonstro que padrões nas comunidades poderiam ser mais bem compreendidos quando o histórico é descrito com mais de uma característica (e.g., média histórica e trajetórias de perda e ganho de cobertura florestal) e que a detecção de respostas tardias varia de acordo com os descritores de comunidades estudados. Em seu segundo manuscrito, um modelo teórico foi testado admitindo múltiplas relações simultâneas e, predominantemente, indiretas para o sistema de estudo. Neste, além daqueles pressupostos, foram confirmados caminhos causais pelos quais a cobertura florestal e usos dos solos estruturam as comunidades. Com os c... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This thesis aims to understand the assembly of stream communities in modified landscapes by accounting for possible asynchronies between the two. In this way, it questions the assumptions that (i) it is necessary to include past landscape characteristics to reach a more complete approach of the structuring factors of current communities, and that (ii), alternatively, one should consider time lags in community responses to encompass the magnitude of the effects of a certain landscape change. In addition, drivers related to the characteristics of landscape history, the type of community descriptor and the complexity of the ecological system are questioned. In its first manuscript, this thesis confirms those assumptions and shows the first record of delayed responses of aquatic insects in the tropical region. In that, I show that patterns in communities could be better understood when landscape history is described with more than one characteristic (e.g., historical mean and loss and gain trajectories of forest cover) and that the detection of delayed responses varies according to the community descriptors. In its second manuscript, a theoretical model was tested admitting multiple simultaneous, and predominantly, indirect relationships in the study system. Then, in addition to the previous assumptions, causal pathways by which forest cover and land uses structure communities were confirmed. With the paths, empirical evidence that aquatic insect community assembling is affected ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor