Marcus Vinícius Vieira

• PhD Systematics and Ecology
• Professor (Associate) at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

We record and analyze the movement patterns of the marsupial {\it Didelphis aurita} at different temporal scales. Animals trajectories are collected at a daily scale by using spool-and-line techniques, and with the help of radio-tracking devices animals traveled distances are estimated at intervals of weeks. Small-scale movements are well described...

Só a restauração ecológica será o suficiente para a persistência dos ecossistemas? Não, visto que lidamos com inventários limitados das espécies. Uma solução viável seria a realização de inventários e monitoramento da fauna e flora antes, ou concomitante com a execução de projetos de restauração.

We record and analyze the movement patterns of the marsupial Didelphis aurita at different temporal scales. Animals trajectories are collected at a daily scale by using spool-and-line techniques and, with the help of radio-tracking devices, animals traveled distances are estimated at intervals of weeks. Small-scale movements are well described by t...

For the 701 mammals that occur in Brazil (ca. 13% of extant mammals worldwide), we attributed ES to each deliverer one based on their functional traits, known trophic interactions, expert knowledge, and by overlaying IUCN’s distribution maps of the species. The ES term encompasses both ecosystem processes and services, offering a broader perspectiv...

Introduction The conversion of natural habitats to agricultural systems is one of the main global threats to bats. Here, we aimed to develop a systematic mapping to identify publication trends and research gaps in studying bats and agricultural systems. Methods We reviewed 309 studies published between 1990 and 2021 that sampled bats in agricultur...

Although variation in effect sizes and predicted values among studies of similar phenomena is inevitable, such variation far exceeds what might be produced by sampling error alone. One possible explanation for variation among results is differences among researchers in the decisions they make regarding statistical analyses. A growing array of studi...

Previous studies have suggested that mammal life history varies along the fast-slow continuum and that, in eutherians, this continuum is linked to variation in the potential contribution of survival and reproduction to population growth rate (λ). Fast eutherians mature early, have large litters and short lifespans, and exhibit high potential contri...

Resumo: Os abrigos são recursos importantes para a biologia dos organismos, mas os mecanismos pelos quais os indivíduos escolhem determinado abrigo são pouco conhecidos. Entre 2004 e 2009, foi avaliado se há seleção de abrigos por Caluromys philander por meio do método de Ninhos Artificiais (NA). As hipóteses testadas foram: (1) que haveria relação...

Small mammals are widely studied in Brazil with well-established techniques. However, arboreal species are the least known. Yet, it is common to find studies only committed to capturing terrestrial species. Baits can influence the detection power of studies but, unlike traps, they are not usually assessed for efficiency. We compiled small mammal st...

Semelparity, the life-history strategy characterized by death after first reproduction, is restricted in mammals to only two marsupial families, Dasyuridae in Australasia and Didelphidae in the Neotropics. Among didelphids, studies suggest a semelparous pattern for mouse opossums of the genus Marmosops. These studies have revealed that both sexes m...

Em estudos ecológicos, a estação reprodutiva dos marsupiais neotropicais é frequentemente definida com base apenas na presença de filhotes no marsúpio e de fêmeas lactantes, sem considerar as fases do ciclo estral, fecundação e gestação. Considerando que a lactação inibe o ciclo estral das fêmeas, estudos que relacionam a estação reprodutiva dos ma...

This article introduces the special volume dedicated to one of the longest wildlife monitoring programs ever carried out in Brazil: the long-term study on small mammals developed by the Laboratório de Vertebrados at UFRJ from 1996 to 2019 in Garrafão, Municipality of Guapimirim, RJ. The guiding ideas of this study emerged from a previous project de...

Small nocturnal mammals must balance their activity to maximize foraging efficiency while reducing vulnerability to predators, and moonlight has been widely investigated as a predation risk cue. Didelphis aurita, a nocturnal marsupial, can act as both a competitor and an intraguild predator, and as a prey, increasing or reducing activity under this...

Evolutionary theory predicts that viable wild populations confront environmental variation by maintaining the variance of the most important vital rates low, a phenomenon also known as demographic buffering. However, patterns diverging from the demographic buffering hypothesis have also been reported. Here we used Population Matrix Models to test t...

Seasonal breeding is a common feature in the life history of marsupials and has been correlated with temperature, resource availability, and photoperiod. Didelphis aurita is a Neotropical marsupial that reproduces seasonally, with up to two litters per season who will be weaned approximately 100 days after birth. Environmental conditions faced by f...

Habitat loss and fragmentation are considered primary causes of biodiversity loss worldwide, with predicted increasing impacts in terrestrial ecosystems. Species richness of New World marsupials are usually studied as part of small mammal assemblages, including rodents, showing the same overall negative effects of habitat loss in multi-taxa analyse...

Context Analyze the multiple dimensions of biodiversity under a local and landscape lens in natural habitats, such as Amazonian savannas, is fundamental for the conservation of species and ecosystems. Objectives We aim to explore how landscape forest cover and patch-level variables affect the patterns of species abundance, functional traits, and t...

Context: Identifying how species richness (or diversity) changes with different proportions of natural and anthropized environments in the landscape is important for landscape management for conservation. Objectives: Here we propose a new method to assess biodiversity changes in landscapes with varying proportions of habitat types. Methods: Our m...

Understanding the effects of random versus niche‐based processes on biodiversity patterns is a central theme in ecology, and an important tool for predicting effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on biodiversity. We investigated the predictive power of random processes to explain species richness and species dissimilarity of amphibian assemblag...

Context Although hydropower development is one of the primary drivers of habitat loss and insular fragmentation, its impacts on species identity and their functional and phylogenetic roles have often been overlooked. Objectives Here we use an integrative approach, considering taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic dimensions at multiple scales, to...

Context Dispersal is a crucial process for species persistence under natural and disturbed landscapes. The effectiveness of stepping stones as a connectivity strategy for increasing dispersal success depends on landscape structure and animal behaviour, such as the perceptual range. Objectives We quantify the relative contribution of stepping stone...

Neotropical snakes have extremely low detection rates, hampering our understanding of their responses to habitat loss and fragmentation. We addressed this gap using a limited sample (50 individuals, 16 species) across 25 variable-size insular forest fragments within a hydroelectric lake and four adjacent mainland continuous forest sites, in Central...

Context Hydropower development is one of the primary drivers of habitat loss and insular fragmentation. Yet, studies quantifying such effects on biodiversity are mostly limited to taxonomic metrics, often overlooking species identity and their functional and phylogenetic roles. Objectives We examined taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic response...

The Program for Biodiversity Research (PPBio) is an innovative program designed to integrate all biodiversity research stakeholders. Operating since 2004, it has installed long-term ecological research sites throughout Brazil and its logic has been applied in some other southern-hemisphere countries. The program supports all aspects of research nec...

Sustainability is a target that involves many socio-ecological questions, depends on opportunities and combines different initiatives. This can be especially difficult in regions with high biodiversity scores, mega cities, high level of human populations and an intense and long-standing land use. Here, we show how a mega trail, named Atlantic Fores...

With a wide distribution across eastern South America, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest is a mosaic of lowland and montane vegetation types, such as evergreen forest, semideciduous and deciduous forest, mixed forest (e.g., Araucaria), mangroves, and restingas. It has long been recognized as having one of the most diversified biotas on the planet, with...

The Program for Biodiversity Research (PPBio) is an innovative program designed to integrate all biodiversity research stakeholders. Operating since 2004, it has installed long-term ecological research sites throughout Brazil and its logic has been applied in some other southern-hemisphere countries. The program supports all aspects of research nec...

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In...

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropica...

Habitat fragmentation may affect animal movement patterns due to changes in intra- and interspecific interactions as well as in habitat quality and structure. Although the effects of habitat fragmentation on terrestrial movements are relatively well-known, it is unclear whether and how they affect aboveground locomotion of individuals. We compared...

The Pampa biome within Brazil is one of South America’s most endangered biomes, due to conversion to croplands and use for cattle farming, with very limited coverage by protected areas. We investigated the impacts of (i) human population density, (ii) grassland and (iii) forest cover, (iv) protected areas and (v) mean size of farms on the occurrenc...

Biodiversity conservation planning must be ecosystem-specific and take into account human needs as food production. The Pampa biome is a temperate grassland with high species richness and with an important role in food production in South America. Here we present the first formal Systematic Conservation Planning for the Brazilian part of the Pampa,...

Long-term Ecological Research programs, LTERs, are necessary to understand processes that occur in time-scales longer than the period of theses, dissertations, and grants from most funding agencies. A basic result of a long-term study is the production long-term time series, but the establishment of general patterns and processes require data integ...

We compare temporal variations in leaf fall among three sites of evergreen Atlantic Forest and analyze how climatic variables influence it. Sites were located at Serra dos Órgãos National Park at different altitudes. Litter was collected monthly, from September 1997 to September 2005. Leaves were separated from other litter elements, oven-dried and...

Tropical forest marsupials exhibit large interannual variation in population sizes, with direct negative density dependence capturing the essential features of their dynamics. However, the demographic mechanisms underlying population growth rate and driving both survival and reproduction are still unclear. We used a 16-year capture-mark-recapture d...

Maximizing cost-efficiency of biological surveys is of great importance to assess threats and monitor changes in tropical landscapes, particularly when survey costs are high as in Neotropical small mammals. Species detectability is mostly affected by local abundance but can further vary according to the forest size in fragmented landscapes. For exa...

Movement by mammals generally increases with body size, described by a positive exponent scaling with either home range area or day range distances. Below ca. 100 g, however, interspecific comparisons suggest a negative scaling, increasing movement with decreasing body size. Such a pattern is expected from the rising costs of thermoregulation below...

Aim While habitat loss is a primary driver of biodiversity declines worldwide, the role of habitat fragmentation per se is inconclusive, but likely depends on the amount of habitat left in a landscape. Here we aimed to tease apart the effects of habitat amount (percentage of native cover) and a fragmentation metric (number of fragments) on species...

Natural environments disturbed by human activities can suffer from species extinctions, but some can still harbor high taxonomic diversity. However, disturbances may have impacts beyond the species level, if the species lost represent unique functions in the ecosystem. In this study, we evaluated to what extent the amount of habitat can determine t...

Xenarthrans—anteaters, sloths, and armadillos—have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts with domestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across...

The most recent list of mammals of the Serra dos Órgãos National Park (PARNASO) with 79 records is from its second Management Plan published in 2008. The present study aimed to update the list of mammal species of PARNASO, adding new species records obtained from primary data and bibliographic review, in the period between 2002 and 2018. The review...

Xenarthrans—anteaters, sloths, and armadillos—have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts with domestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across...

The Neotropical region hosts one of the highest levels of small non-volant mammal species diversity worldwide, but sampling therein is often intractable due to high logistic and labour costs. While most common sampling methods include live trapping (LT) and pitfall trapping (PT), camera trapping (CT) is potentially a useful technique. Studies asses...

We investigate the movement patterns of three different Neotropical marsupials in an unfamiliar and risky environment. Animals are released in a matrix from which they try to reach a patch of forest. Their movements, performed on a small spacial scale, are best approximated by L\'evy flights. Patterns of oriented and non-oriented individuals - with...

We investigate the movement patterns of three different Neotropical marsupials in an unfamiliar and risky environment. Animals are released in a matrix from which they try to reach a patch of forest. Their movements, performed on a small spacial scale, are best approximated by Lévy flights. Patterns of oriented and non-oriented individuals - with f...

We address two fundamental ecological questions: what are the limits to animal population density and what determines those limits? We develop simple alternative models to predict population limits in relation to body mass. A model assuming that within‐species area use increases with the square of daily travel distance broadly predicts the scaling...

Context The metacommunity concept helps to understand how local and regional processes regulate species distributions in landscapes. Metacommunity structure is often assumed as static, but may be rather dynamic, following temporal changes along environmental gradients. Objectives We present an empirical test of the temporal dynamics of metacommuni...

One of the major challenges in animal ecology is to understand the factors and processes driving movement behaviour. Although density may influence movement patterns, the occurrence and nature of density‐dependence in animal movements are still unclear, particularly whether it may vary among populations of a species, or across time within a populat...

Habitat loss and fragmentation are likely to affect individual condition as they usually alter the quality of habitat. However, responses of individuals of different species to these processes may be subtle and difficult to detect, despite that such responses may reveal interesting and diverse strategies of persistence of species in fragmented land...

Space and diet are frequently considered the two most important dimensions of an organism niche, but in tropical forests, these two dimensions are associated, with fruits more accessible in the canopy and upper strata of the forest, and arthropods more abundant in the forest litter. This constitutes a genuine macroecological pattern, potentially co...

Beginning in November 2018, Brazilian legislation regulating access to genetic heritage and associated traditional knowledge will cause a bureaucratic collapse of Biodiversity research in Brazil. Law number 13.123/2015 and Decree 8772/2016 impose severe barriers to basic and applied research, and to international cooperation by introducing mandator...

Hydroelectric dams have induced widespread loss, fragmentation and degradation of terrestrial habitats in lowland tropical forests. Yet their ecological impacts have been widely neglected, particularly in developing countries, which are currently earmarked for exponential hydropower development. Here we assess small mammal assemblage responses to A...

The subject of biological invasions is well-recognized, especially due to the associated impacts, but different interpretations exist about the concept of invasive species. These are usually known as exotic species that proliferate intensely, spread rapidly and persist as dominant in the new community. However, some native species may behave the sa...

Aim Mega hydroelectric dams have become one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss in the lowland tropics. In these reservoirs, vertebrate studies have focused on local (α) diversity measures, whereas between‐site (β) diversity remains poorly assessed despite its pivotal importance in understanding how species diversity is structured and maintain...

Climatic seasonality affects marsupial space use through changes in food, mate, and nest availability. These effects can be enhanced when population size has an additive effect in the dry season. We tested if daily home range area and intensity of habitat use of the marsupial Metachirus nudicaudatus is affected by population size, climatic (dry and...

Habitat change is the primary cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. Large tracks of primary forest can be (1) degraded by human-induced disturbance to the point of total conversion into alternative non-forest land-use types, or (2) reduced into small forest fragments isolated within an anthropogenic matrix. Such disturbed habitats are further prone...

Local abundance results from the interaction between populational and environmental processes. The abundance of the species in a community is also one of the most basic descriptors of its structure. Despite its importance, information about species abundances is fragmentary, creating a knowledge gap about species abundances known as the Prestonian...

Local abundance results from the interaction between populational and environmental processes. The abundance of the species in a community is also one of the most basic descriptors of its structure. Despite its importance, information about species abundances is fragmentary, creating a knowledge gap about species abundances known as the Prestonian...

How species respond to changes caused by habitat loss and fragmentation depends on the habits and habitat selection of individuals, but most studies focus on community- or population-level consequences. One reason could be the difficulty in determining what individuals of a species perceive as habitat. Herein, we determine how habitat fragmentation...

It is well known that bird richness in the Amazon is greater in upland forests and that seasonally flooded forest is particularly species poor. However, the misleading pattern of greater bird richness in seasonally flooded forest has emerged seemingly unnoticed numerous times in richness maps in the literature. We hypothesize that commission errors...

We study the population size time series of a Neotropical small mammal with the intent of detecting and modelling population regulation processes generated by density-dependent factors and their possible delayed effects. The application of analysis tools based on principles of statistical generality are nowadays a common practice for describing the...

Oryzomyine rodents of Nectomys have a repertoire of swimming postural behaviors used in different ecological aspects of its life, affecting key tasks of their survival. These species present three swimming behaviors: bipedal surface swimming, quadruped symmetric submerged swimming, and swimming bound, with correspondent differences in performance....

Differences in body size and in the use of arboreal strata limit the climbing behaviour and performance of didelphids. Similarly to primates, the arboreal canopy dweller, Caluromys philander exhibits a diagonal-sequence gait. In contrast, terrestrial didelphids use a symmetrical lateral sequence in horizontal locomotion. Postural behaviour along th...

Food availability is considered to be a primary factor affecting animal populations, yet few experimental tests have been performed to evaluate its actual importance in species-rich ecosystems such as rainforests. It has been suggested that in such systems certain plant species may act as “keystone” resources for animals, but the importance of pres...

The sets of species in animal and plant communities often comprise nested subsets of the species in broader communities. Although most mechanisms causing nested patterns are known and have been demonstrated for different environments and taxa, how amphibian communities are structured in ephemeral ponds in tropical disturbed landscapes remains unkno...

We study the population size time series of a Neotropical small mammal with the intent of detecting and modelling population regulation processes generated by density-dependent factors and their possible delayed effects. The application of analysis tools based on principles of statistical generality are nowadays a common practice for describing the...

Several factors may affect the persistence of amphibian species in tropical fragmented landscapes, including the size of remaining patches. While fragment size is considered the main factor acting on species diversity for most taxa, it is less clear how it affects amphibian diversity. A possible reason is that the scale at which previous studies we...

Invasive species pose one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. This study investigates the extent to which human disturbance to natural ecosystems facilitates the spread of non-native species, focusing on a small mammal community in selectively logged rain forest, Sabah, Borneo. The microhabitat preferences of the invasive Rattus rattus and thr...