Under blue wings: mammals of the Spix's Macaw Protected Areas, Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Mammals can be used as indicators of relative biological integrity and environmental quality. Therefore, inventories of this taxon are fundamental for planning and evaluating conservation and management strategies such as the creation of protected areas. This study compared the medium- and large-sized mammalian species’ diversity and composition before and after the establishment of the Spix’s Macaw protected areas to assess its potential beneficial effects and to provide subsidies for the management and monitoring of the protected ecosystem. Mammal data were collected in two camera trapping surveys carried out in 2017 and between 2020 and 2021, totaling a sampling effort of 3,803 camera-trap days. We obtained a total of 1,141 records of 17 species of wild mammals, including 13 medium- and large-sized species and four small mammal species. We recorded four threatened species. Although species richness and composition were very similar between the periods before and after the establishment of the protected area, diversity was higher which is associated with having greater species evenness. Cerdocyon thous, Euphractus sexcinctus, and Dasypus novemcinctus were the most common wild mammals, while the rarest species were Puma concolor, Procyon cancrivorus, Dicotyles tajacu, and Dasyprocta prymnolopha. Seven domestic species were recorded, including the super-abundant Capra hircus. Therefore, conservation and habitat restoration strategies, such as the expansion of protected areas and the sustainable management of domestic species, must be reinforced and expanded to ensure the persistence of an important diversity of wild mammals, whose population trends should be monitored.