Defaunation disrupts the behavior of large terrestrial vertebrates, impacting ecological functions in the Amazon

IF 3.5 2区 环境科学与生态学 Q1 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION Global Ecology and Conservation Pub Date : 2025-03-11 DOI:10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03522
Gabriela da Silva Batista , Carlos R. Brocardo , Arlison B. Castro , Emiliano F. Fogliatti , Mauro Galetti , Mathias M. Pires , Rodrigo F. Fadini
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Abstract

Wildlife defaunation in tropical forests disrupts critical ecological functions such as predation, seed dispersal, and nutrient cycling. While exclusion experiments are commonly used to investigate the effects of wildlife loss on plant diversity and vegetation structure, their potential impact on broader ecosystem functions remains underexplored. Here we investigate how defaunation could affect ecosystem functions in the Amazon rainforest by quantifying the changes in the occurrence and frequency of behaviors exhibited by terrestrial mammals induced by experimental defaunation. Using camera traps, we recorded vertebrate behaviors across exclusion and control plots, categorizing them into feeding, excretion/defecation, bioturbation, and trampling. We then calculated weighted standardized indices, integrating behavior frequency and body mass, to assess the potential local impacts of vertebrates across plots. We found that all behaviors were drastically reduced (>95 % reduction) under severe defaunation conditions, primarily due to the absence of medium- and large-bodied mammals and birds. In defaunated plots, small mammals partially performed some behaviors, but they were unable to compensate for the loss of larger species. These results highlight the substantial reduction in critical vertebrate behaviors and suggest that such changes can significantly disrupt ecosystem functions in defaunated tropical forests.
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来源期刊
Global Ecology and Conservation
Global Ecology and Conservation Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
CiteScore
8.10
自引率
5.00%
发文量
346
审稿时长
83 days
期刊介绍: Global Ecology and Conservation is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal covering all sub-disciplines of ecological and conservation science: from theory to practice, from molecules to ecosystems, from regional to global. The fields covered include: organismal, population, community, and ecosystem ecology; physiological, evolutionary, and behavioral ecology; and conservation science.
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