Trophic cascades help restore vegetation.

Herbivores and their predators have a major impact on restoration outcomes.

ATLANTIC MAMMAL TRAITS: a data set of morphological traits of mammals in the Atlantic Forest of South America.

Measures of traits are the basis of functional biological diversity. Numerous works consider mean species-level measures of traits while ignoring individual variance within species. However, there is a large amount of variation within species and it is increasingly apparent that it is important to consider trait variation not only between species, but also within species. Mammals are an interesting group for investigating trait-based approaches because they play diverse and important ecological functions (e.g., pollination, seed dispersal, predation, grazing) that are correlated with functional traits. Here we compile a data set comprising morphological and life history information of 279 mammal species from 39,850 individuals of 388 populations ranging from -5.83 to -29.75 decimal degrees of latitude and -34.82 to -56.73 decimal degrees of longitude in the Atlantic forest of South America. We present trait information from 16,840 individuals of 181 species of non-volant mammals (Rodentia, Didelphimorphia, Carnivora, Primates, Cingulata, Artiodactyla, Pilosa, Lagomorpha, Perissodactyla) and from 23,010 individuals of 98 species of volant mammals (Chiroptera). The traits reported include body mass, age, sex, reproductive stage, as well as the geographic coordinates of sampling for all taxa. Moreover, we gathered information on forearm length for bats and body length and tail length for rodents and marsupials. No copyright restrictions are associated with the use of this data set. Please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us of how they are using the data.

Atlantic small-mammal: a dataset of communities of rodents and marsupials of the Atlantic forests of South America.

The contribution of small mammal ecology to the understanding of macroecological patterns of biodiversity, population dynamics, and community assembly has been hindered by the absence of large datasets of small mammal communities from tropical regions. Here we compile the largest dataset of inventories of small mammal communities for the Neotropical region. The dataset reviews small mammal communities from the Atlantic forest of South America, one of the regions with the highest diversity of small mammals and a global biodiversity hotspot, though currently covering less than 12% of its original area due to anthropogenic pressures. The dataset comprises 136 references from 300 locations covering seven vegetation types of tropical and subtropical Atlantic forests of South America, and presents data on species composition, richness, and relative abundance (captures/trap-nights). One paper was published more than 70 yr ago, but 80% of them were published after 2000. The dataset comprises 53,518 individuals of 124 species of small mammals, including 30 species of marsupials and 94 species of rodents. Species richness averaged 8.2 species (1-21) per site. Only two species occurred in more than 50% of the sites (the common opossum, Didelphis aurita and black-footed pigmy rice rat Oligoryzomys nigripes). Mean species abundance varied 430-fold, from 4.3 to 0.01 individuals/trap-night. The dataset also revealed a hyper-dominance of 22 species that comprised 78.29% of all individuals captured, with only seven species representing 44% of all captures. The information contained on this dataset can be applied in the study of macroecological patterns of biodiversity, communities, and populations, but also to evaluate the ecological consequences of fragmentation and defaunation, and predict disease outbreaks, trophic interactions and community dynamics in this biodiversity hotspot.