Mariana S Ferreira

Restoration initiatives are becoming increasingly applied around the world. Billions of dollars have been spent on ecological restoration research and initiatives, but restoration outcomes differ widely among these initiatives in part due to variable socioeconomic and ecological contexts. Here, we present the most comprehensive dataset gathered to date on forest restoration. It encompasses 269 primary studies across 221 study landscapes in 53 countries and contains 4645 quantitative comparisons between reference ecosystems (e.g., old-growth forest) and degraded or restored ecosystems for five taxonomic groups (mammals, birds, invertebrates, herpetofauna, and plants) and five measures of vegetation structure reflecting different ecological processes (cover, density, height, biomass, and litter). We selected studies that: (i) were conducted in forest ecosystems, (ii) had multiple, replicate sampling sites to measure indicators of biodiversity and/or vegetation structure in reference and restored and/or degraded ecosystems, and (iii) used less-disturbed forests as a reference to the ecosystem under study. We recorded: (i) latitude and longitude, (ii) study year, (iii) country, (iv) biogeographic realm,(v) past disturbance type, (vi) current disturbance type, (vii) forest conversion class, (viii) restoration activity, (ix) time that a system has been disturbed, (x) time elapsed since restoration started, (xi) ecological metric used to assess biodiversity, and (xii) quantitative value of the ecological metric of biodiversity and/or vegetation structure for reference and restored and/or degraded ecosystems. These were the most common data available in the selected studies. We also estimated forest cover and configuration in each study landscape using a recently developed 1 km consensus land cover dataset. We measured forest configuration as the: (i) mean size of all forest patches, (ii) size of the largest forest patch, and (iii) edge:area ratio of forest patches. Global analyses of the factors influencing ecological restoration success at both the local and landscape scale are urgently needed to guide restoration initiatives and to further develop restoration knowledge in a topic area of much contemporary interest.

Different causal mechanisms have been suggested to explain species decline in fragmented landscapes, mainly those related with the amount and configuration of habitat for species (habitat availability), and those related with the habitat patch quality. Here we quantify the effects of habitat availability and quality on the abundance of three small mammals in a landscape at the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We compared species with different habitat preferences and dispersal abilities (Nectomys squamipes, Marmosa paraguayana and Didelphis
aurita). The most sensitivity species to fragmentation (N. squamipes) was affected by habitat quality variables only, while the least sensitive species (D. aurita) did not suffer any effect
of habitat quality and availability. M. paraguayana, a species with an intermediate degree of sensitivity, responded to both habitat quality and availability. We recommend combining information on both habitat availability and quality to unravel species persistence in fragmented landscapes.

We propose a simple, accurate, and inexpensive
timing device to record the activity patterns of small mammals in the field using live traps. The present timing device
can be used in cage-type live traps. It is built from commercially available components and does not require special
skills to construct. The device is set outside the trap and
does not need to be permanently affixed or require drill
perforations, as others devices do. This device is easily
incorporated into long-term monitoring studies to provide
temporal information about small mammal populations
without affecting their behavior.

Nocturnal activity is generally presumed, but rarely evaluated in studies of tropical small mammals. When evaluated, activity is frequently presented as a fixed pattern, but actually it is the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on individuals. We investigated effects of age, sex, minimum temperature, reproductive and climatic seasons on activity of Didelphis aurita (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae) in an Atlantic Forest area in south-eastern Brazil from June 2009 to December 2010. We captured 37 individuals, 51 times (28 females and 23 males). Activity of D. aurita was mostly nocturnal, but some individuals were active during the day (12%, N=6). Nocturnal activity was bimodal, more prevalent in adults than juveniles, and different from most neotropical marsupials. Contrary to expectations, individuals of D. aurita were more active at colder temperatures, which indicates that low temperatures do not limit foraging behaviour.

A  population  of  the  neotropical  marsupial  Metachirus  nudicaudatus  was  studied  in  an
preserved  Atlantic  Forest  area  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  State  using  capture-mark-recapture
method.  The  purpose  of  the  study  was  to  determine  the  mechanism  involved  in  the
population regulation and the effect of the exogenous factors to the system and to describe
the activity pattern of  M. nudicaudatus  and  Didelphis aurita,  investigating if D. aurita affect
the  acitivity  of  the  brown  opossum  since  it  is  a  competitor  and  occasional  intraguild
predator.  The population dynamics of  M. nudicaudatus  is  governed by negative first-order
feedback, suggesting that  the population  is regulated by intraspecific  competition  (limited
by  food  and/or  space).  Endogenous  structure  is  influenced  by  local  precipitation  with  a
one  year  time-lag.  There  is  no  evidence  of  the  effect  of  Southern  Oscillation  Index  on
population  dynamic  of  this  marsupial.  In  relation  to  the  activity  pattern,  Metachirus
nudicaudatus  is strictly  nocturnal, without signs of activity during twilight, and  Didelphis
aurita  has  a  bimodal  activity  pattern  with  more  intense  activity  in  twilight  and  in  the
middle of the night.  Activity during the day was also detected for this species, however  D.
aurita was not active during the time where researchers were in the grids. A low degree of
overlap  in  foraging  times  was  observed,  suggesting  a  possible  case  of  temporal
segregation.