Efeito de borda sobre comunidades de vertebrados nos biomas brasileiros: revisão da produção científica dos últimos 30 anos

Abstract

Edge effects are changes in physical, chemical and biological parameters that occur in areas that have suffered some disturbance (fragmentation) caused by natural disturbances, climatic events and/or human actions and, as a result, promote differences in biotic and abiotic conditions at the edge of the fragment. It can be divided into direct or indirect abiotic and biological and influence the richness, abundance and composition of species, in addition to causing changes in climatic factors on the margins of fragmented environments. One of the direct consequences of the habitat fragmentation process is the increasing loss of biodiversity. Bearing in mind the complexity of the analyzes involving edge effect studies and the advance of agricultural frontiers, where anthropic actions directly influence the alteration of the natural environment, this work seeks to identify and discuss the contributions (research) published in the last 30 years (1991-2021), on Edge Effects carried out in Brazil using vertebrates as a study model. For that, we carried out a bibliographical research in nine databases, using the combination of the descriptors "Edge effect" or "Edge influence", "Brazil", "Vertebrates", "Fragmentation" and their combinations for the English language. A total of 95.506 references were found and, after applying the criteria and inclusion and exclusion, 213 were selected, of which 191 met the objectives of the work. Maps were generated to represent the distribution of the sampled areas and the sampling points were obtained by indicating the geographic coordinates informed in the works. From the data obtained, there was an increasing trend in the number of publications over the period, with the years 2009, 2012, 2018 and 2019 being the ones with the highest number of publications. Of the total, 174 researches used empirical methodologies to carry out their studies, while 17 corresponded to review works. The study model group with the highest number of published works were mammals (78), followed by birds (46), amphibians (25), reptiles (10 and finally fish (2). The total of 30 studies used more than one group as a model. The region with the highest number of areas sampled was the Southeast with 64 surveys, followed by the North with 39, the Midwest with 22, the South with 21 and the Northeast with 14 surveys carried out, review surveys that did not inform the study area were not accounted for this variable. Considering the distribution of research in national biomes, 94 works were carried out in the Atlantic Forest, followed by 49 for the Amazon; 29 carried out in the Cerrado, in addition to 3 addressing ecotone areas between Cerrado and Atlantic Forest; 6 referring to the Pampa biome; 2 for the Pantanal, in addition to the Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal biomes. Which were addressed simultaneously in 1 study, 1 study was carried out comparing the Pantanal and the Atlantic Forest, and only 1 study was carried out in the Caatinga. Finally, 1 work did not have a defined biome, 2 referred to the Neotropical region, including Brazil and 2 studies dealt with the edge effect on vertebrates on a global scale.