Disentangling drivers of small mammal diversity in a highly fragmented forest system

The Atlantic Forest is the second most diverse forest system in South America and only a fraction of its original distribution remains. In this study, we aim to use robust datasets of small mammals along the entire forest system to disentangle the main drivers for diversity along this gradient. More specifically we aim to disentangle if deforestation (recent), biogeographical variables, including 19 bioclimatic variables (historic), or historical trapping bias best describe patterns of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversities using small mammal assembles, from northeastern Brazil to eastern Paraguay.  For that, we applied regression tree analyses to determine what environmental variables best describe each of the dimensions of diversity. Additionally, we implemented polynomial regression to test non-linear relationships between biodiversity metrics and patch size. We found that patterns of overall taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversities; rodent taxonomic diversity;...