Forest corridors preserve biodiversity in tree plantation landscapes of the Southern Atlantic Forest: a multi-taxa approach using passive sampling methods

Abstract

The extensive transformation of natural habitats into monoculture tree plantations implies the loss of suitable habitats for native species, negatively impacting biodiversity maintenance. Among the main landscape factors influencing the ecological potential of forestry landscapes to support native species, forest corridors are of central importance; however, assessments of their effectiveness across multiple taxa—especially among species with varied movement capacities—remain limited. To evaluate the role of corridors, in a heterogeneous forestry landscape in the Atlantic Forest of Argentina, we assessed species richness and composition of three taxonomic groups (anurans, birds and mammals) in tree plantations (pine and eucalypt) and forest (corridors and continuous), using technology-based biodiversity monitoring. Data from passive acoustic monitoring and camera trapping revealed a consistent pattern of species richness across taxa, with the highest richness in forest corridors, followed by continuous forests, pine plantations, and eucalypt plantations. For birds and mammals, a similar number of forest-dependent species were found in both continuous forests and forest corridors. In anurans and mammals, species composition changes between forest corridors and continuous forests were primarily driven by species replacement; while in birds, these changes were driven by differences in species richness. Across all taxa, forest corridors most closely resembled the community integrity of continuous forests. The species richness and composition patterns found for taxonomic groups with varying habitat requirements underscore the potential of forest corridors as a powerful and profitable conservation tool in forestry landscapes.