Non-volant mammals from the Upper Paraná River Basin: a data set from a critical region for conservation in Brazil

Abstract

The data set represents the first attempt at a large-scale inventory of non-volant mammals, with potential applications to performing macroecological studies, developing conservation strategies, and undertaking population and community ecology research, but also to evaluate the ecological consequences of fragmentation and defaunation. Our objectives for compiling these data were to summarize information about inventories of non-volant mammals in the critically important area of the Upper Paraná River Basin by focusing on species richness and index of frequency of occurrence and to identify gaps in knowledge regarding non-volant mammal communities in order to guide future sampling efforts. The data set comprises studies on communities of non-volant mammals from 52 locations covering more than 1,000 km2 and comprises portion of four Brazilian states in the Upper Paraná River Basin. We listed 81 species of non-volant mammals distributed among 58 genera, 22 families, and 9 orders. Rodentia (28 species) was the richest order, followed by Carnivora (17 spp.) and Didelphimorphia (15 spp.). The richest family was Cricetidae (20 spp.), followed by Didelphidae (15 spp.), and Dasypodidae and Felidae (six spp.). Considering national conservation status, one species are considered endangered and 16 vulnerable. Considering global conservation status, 7 species are considered vulnerable, 10 are considered near threatened, and 6 are data deficient. According to the index of frequency of occurrence, Myrmecophaga tridactyla was the most frequent species, occurring at 88.64% of all sites, while 25 species were considered very restricted, occurring in just 2.56% of all sites. In general, the non-volant mammal fauna was composed of mainly very restricted (VR, 25 species) and localized species (L, 25 species), which account for 61.7% of the known species, while 38.3% are restricted (R, 8 species), common (C, 16 species), and widespread (W, 7 species). Seven marsupials and five small rodents had their distributions extended in the central-south of Brazil. All of these species are considered data deficient or threatened, which highlights the importance of these records. 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.