Estrutura espacial de populações de Thrichomys fosteri em um complexo de pequenos fragmentos no Pantanal

Abstract

The loss and fragmentation of the natural environments can reduce the size of local populations, being a threat to the persistence of some species. Because of this, the study of metapopulations brings theoretical bases that are essential for the management of species, where the species can maintain themselves in smaller and discontinuous habitat through migration of individuals that maintain the genetic variability of the population. This thesis aims to understand how Thichomys fosteri populations are maintained in a naturally fragmented area of the Nhecolândia Pantanal. In the first chapter, I describe whether there is an exchange of individuals between the small fragments (known as “capões”) in the region and how there is the communication of individuals between a group of 15 fragments. In the second chapter, I investigate whether this migration is sufficient to consider the formation of a metapopulation and also see which of the theoretical models this population is closest to. We found that the network formed between the “capões” presents modularity and specialization. Furthermore, the results suggest that Thichomys fosteri populations form a metapopulation, with a Source-Sink structure. With this, I can provide an overview of how populations of small mammals are structured in the landscape and how they manage to maintain populations over time. This model can be extrapolated to other organisms that manage to maintain themselves in fragmented landscapes, helping in the management and conservation of several species.