Data from: Landscape heterogeneity can partially offset negative effects of habitat loss on mammalian biodiversity in agroecosystems

Intensive, large-scale agriculture promotes the conversion of natural
habitats and diversified crops into monocultures, decreasing both native
vegetation cover and landscape heterogeneity, leading to landscape
simplification. Yet, a key knowledge gap persists on the relative impacts
of the loss of native vegetation and landscape heterogeneity on
biodiversity. Addressing this gap is pressing to support policies that
conciliate agricultural production and biodiversity conservation and to
move forward some scientific controversies, as the “land sharing versus
land sparing” and “habitat loss versus fragmentation” debates.Through a
hierarchical sampling design that maximized variation, while minimizing
correlation, between landscape heterogeneity and native vegetation cover,
we recorded the occurrence of medium and large-bodied mammals in native
vegetation and agricultural areas of 55 landscapes in a global
conservation hotspot and a key commodity production area – the Brazilian
savanna, Cerrado. We compared simple, additive, and interactive models to
investigate the effects of landscape heterogeneity and native vegetation
cover on richness and composition of native and invasive
mammals. Native and invasive mammal communities were affected by
both native vegetation cover and landscape heterogeneity, although the
effects of the first was stronger than the later. Both aspects had
positive effects on native species richness and negative on invasive
species richness, indicating that the loss of native vegetation and the
reduction in landscape heterogeneity lead to biotic homogenization. Yet,
while landscape heterogeneity benefited most native species, the direction
of its effect varied among invasive species and depended on native
vegetation cover.Synthesis and applications: Besides reducing habitat
loss, avoiding landscape homogenization is key for conciliating
agricultural production and biodiversity conservation, pointing to the
relevance of policies encouraging crop diversification. As increasing
landscape heterogeneity can in part compensate the negative effects of
losing native habitat on biodiversity in agroecosystems, policies can gain
feasibility by adjusting the balance between native vegetation cover and
landscape heterogeneity according to what best suits local restraints and
demands.