Análise da distribuição em comunidades de mamíferos terrestres neotropicais atuais da América do sul - mastofauna de Belém

Abstract

The study of the distribution of components in terrestrial mammal communities has attracted the attention of several researchers in order to establish patterns of fauna composition in current and extinct ecosystems. The objective of this work is to trace patterns of community structure at levels of diversity a, b or g, and to define the determining factors of the mammalian fauna. The ecological parameters analyzed for the characterization of the mammal fauna of Belém were: weight, feeding and locomotion. The data on these ecological parameters were collected through analysis of specific literature, and the osteometric information was collected from the collection of mastozoology at the Goeldi Museum. Craniometric analysis was carried out using the PCA and UPMGA methods in order to establish the relationship between shape, function and feeding characteristics of each species in the community. The results showed that: 1- all the main food types of mammals are found in tropical forest ecosystems being possible their morphometric characterization; 2 - the three-dimensional graph, showing the ecological variables of weight, feeding and locomotion, satisfactorily characterizes the various communities of Neotropical mammals. These results demonstrate that the same procedure can be applied to the analysis of communities of extinct Neotropical mammals.