title: Diversity and Impacts of Mining on the Non-Volant Small Mammal Communities of Two Vegetation Types in the Brazilian Amazon.
abstract: The Carajás National Forest contains some of the largest iron ore deposits in the world. The majority of the minerals are found below a plant community known as Savana Metalófila, or "Canga", which represents only 3% of the landscape within the Carajás National Forest (CNF). The aim of our study was to understand the diversity of community of non-volant small mammals in the two predominant vegetation types: Ombrophilous Forest and Canga, and to examine how mining impacts these communities. Sampling was conducted from January 2010 to August 2011 in 11 sampling sites divided by the total area of Canga and 12 sampling sites in the forest, totalizing 23 sites. Of these, 12 sites (Canga and Forest) were considered impacted areas located close to the mine (<< 900 meters) and 11 sites (Canga and Forest), serving as controls, which were at least 7,000 meters from the mine. We recorded 28 species, 11 from the Order Didelphimorphia and 17 from the Order Rodentia. The two forest types shared 68.42% of the species found in the CNF. A gradient analysis (Non-metric multidimensional scaling) revealed that the first axis clearly separated the non-flying small mammal communities by vegetation type. Occupancy models showed that the detectability of species was affected by the distance from the mining activities. Of all the small mammals analyzed, 10 species were positively affected by the distance from mining in areas impacted (e.g. more likely to be detected farther from mining areas) and detectability was lower in impacted areas. However, three species were negatively affected by the distance from mining, with higher detectability in the impacted areas, and seven species showed no effect of their proximity to mining operations. To date, there are no studies in Brazil about the impact of mining on mammals or other vertebrates. This study reveals that the effect of mining may go beyond the forest destruction caused by the opening of the mining pits, but also may negatively affect sensitive wildlife species.
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Biologia Roberto Alcântara Gomes, Laboratório de Ecologia de Mamíferos, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Natália Carneiro
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Ardente
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Biologia Roberto Alcântara Gomes, Laboratório de Ecologia de Mamíferos, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Átilla Colombo
authors.initials: ÁC
authors.lastname: Ferreguetti
authors.affiliation: Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States of America.
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gettinger
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia Biologia, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Pricila
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leal
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Pará, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Ecologia e Zoologia de Vertebrados, Campus Básico-Rua Augusto Corrêa, Belém-Pará -Brasil.
authors.forename: Ana Cristina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Mendes-Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia Biologia, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernanda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Martins-Hatano
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Biologia Roberto Alcântara Gomes, Laboratório de Ecologia de Mamíferos, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Helena Godoy
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Bergallo
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D001938:Brazil; D017753:Ecosystem; D065928:Forests; D008394:Marsupialia / Q000145:classification*; D008906:Mining; D011156:Population Density; D014197:Trees