Abstract
Habitat fragmentation and degradation are important biodiversity change drivers worldwide. Their effects have been described for many animal groups, but little is known about marsupials. We conducted a meta-analysis aiming to evaluate the actual effects of habitat fragmentation and degradation on forest marsupials. From a literature survey, we obtained 85 case studies reporting disturbance comparisons. We found a negative overall effect, as well as a negative effect for habitat fragmentation, but not for habitat degradation. Marsupials from Oceania were negatively affected by habitat disturbance, whereas there was no effect for those from South America. Arboreal marsupials were negatively affected, whereas terrestrial marsupials did not. Species from the families Dasyuridae (Antechinus spp.) and Microbiotheriidae (Dromiciops gliroides) showed to be sensitive to habitat disturbance.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Mariano Rodríguez-Cabal who contributed with literature. Comments of four anonymous reviewers improved an early version. Funding was provided by the Scott Neotropical Fund program of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo & Cleveland Zoological Society, the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, the Rufford Small Grants Foundation, and two CONICYT graduate fellowships. Final writing of this article was supported by FONDECYT project 3140528 (FEF).
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Communicated by: Sven Thatje
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Fontúrbel, F.E., Candia, A.B., Salazar, D.A. et al. How forest marsupials are affected by habitat degradation and fragmentation? A meta-analysis. Naturwissenschaften 101, 599–602 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-014-1193-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-014-1193-z