Mamíferos terrestres de médio e grande porte em uma área de reserva legal na região centro-oeste de Minas Gerais, Brasil

Abstract

Brazilian legal reserves (LRs) are preservation areas located on private land and contribute to the maintenance of mammal species diversity and their movement patterns between vegetation fragments. This study sought to quantify the richness and analyze the occurrence frequency of the medium- and large-sized terrestrial mammals of a 76.5 ha LR in the municipality of Pedra do Indaia in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Data collection lasted for 28 months and was based on the following sampling methods: direct and indirect observation and camera trapping. We registered 25 species from seven orders and 14 families. The most represented orders were Carnivora, Cingulata and Rodentia, while Lagomorpha and Didelphimorphia were the least recorded orders. Of the 25 recorded species, six are cited as threatened with extinction on the Minas Gerais Red List and four are cited in the Brazil Red Book of Threatened Fauna. The occurrence of threatened animal species suggests the need to maintain the LR and the native vegetation remnants in order to keep the habitat quality necessary for the persistence of populations and their ecosystem services.