The region of the Botucatu cuesta is characterized by a great topographic gradient and a mosaic of several kinds of natural vegetation patches (seasonal semideciduous forests, savannas and gallery forests), and is a fragmented anthropogenic landscape with a predominance of pastures, sugar-cane, citrus and eucalyptus plantations. Within this region, the Edgardia Experimental Farm, belonging to UNESP Campus, represents a sample of this environmental heterogeneity, having a great importance for flora and fauna biodiversity conservation. However, there is a lack of studies regarding its fauna, specially its mammalian fauna. The objective of the present study was to find the relation between the medium- and large-sized mammalian communities to habitat patches within the Edgardia Experimental Farm. Data was collected from indirect records (footprints and feces) in transects (pre-existing trails) in the course of one year. From March 2004 to March 2005, eighten native medium and large-sized mammalian species were recorded. Mazama sp. was present in all environments, and more abundantly in the transition area forest/savanna. Puma concolor (Linnaeus, 1771), Leopardus pardalis (Linnaeus, 1758), Cerdocyon thous (Linnaeus, 1766), Procyon cancrivorus (Cuvier, 1798), and Dasypus novemcinctus (Linnaeus, 1758) were found practically everywhere and species such as Chironectes minimus (Zimmermann, 1780), Cuniculus paca Linnaeus, 1766, Eira barbara (Linnaeus, 1758) and one species of genus Conepatus Gray, 1837 were restricted to specific habitats. The correspondence analysis showed that eight species were correlated to all environments: seven to wetlands, forests and pastures; and tree to rice plantation, forest/savanna transition and secondary forest regeneration areas. The results suggest that medium and large-sized mammalian species at the Edgardia Experimental Farm are subject to the environmental changes the region has gone through. Although there are preferences of some species for certain habitats, there may be adaptations to changes in their original habitats.
Landscape fragmentation; terrestrial mammals; seasonal semideciduous forest; anthropogenic areas; footprint analysis
