Protecting the Atlantic Forest ecosystem
The Atlantic Forest is a highly fragmented and threatened ecosystem with a high number of endemic species. Despite the threat of multi-species extinction, the drivers and determinants of a functioning Atlantic Forest ecosystem remain poorly understood. The 'Community disassembly rules and the erosion of ecosystem functions in fragmented landscapes' (COMDREEF) project used a large, existing biodiversity dataset to address this problem. The dataset consisted of more than 25 000 animal records (birds, insects and mammals) from 90 forest patches ranging from 10 to 100 % forest cover. Researchers showed that habitat loss affects community composition, but not species diversity, in Atlantic Forest birds. They also found that endemic species are the most likely to face extinction as forest fragmentation increases. Bird extinction in Atlantic forests is expected to impact ecosystem functioning through changes in pollination behaviour and insect predation. However, project results show that several species fulfil the same ecological role, providing a buffer to ecosystem failure. Finally, COMDREEF showed that below 30 % forest cover, ecosystems stop functioning and non-endemic species take over. Their research also indicated that a financial commitment of 0.0006 % of Brazil's gross domestic product could provide forest restoration up to the 30 % threshold.
Keywords
Atlantic Forest, ecosystem, biodiversity, forest cover, multi-species extinction, fragmented landscape, habitat loss, community composition, pollination, insect predation