Fire Absence as Structuring Factor on Small Mammal Assemblages at the Serra Das Araras Ecological Station, in the Southwest of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Abstract Fire is a structuring factor of terrestrial ecosystems, such as the Brazilian Cerrado. But little is known about the patterns and adequate fire regularity in the various phytophysiognomies of this biome. Thus, we hypothesized that the control of fires at the Serra das Araras Ecological Station alters the small mammals’ assemblages, with the presence of more forest species. Thus, this work aims to evaluate the structure of the assemblages of small non-volant mammals of the SAES, after a period of 17 years without fire occurrence. Between October 2016 and June 2017, 24 sites in the Cerrado. The sampling effort was 13,960 traps per night of conventional Sherman and Tomahawk traps. Our results were compared with data sampled in 1999 and 2000, a period in which there was no fire control. 21 species of small mammals were recorded, of which 12 species of rodents and nine of marsupials. Our results show most species common to forest and savannah environments, differing from the pattern of other studies, in which they present a set of species restricted to forest environments, another set restricted to savannah environments, and few shared species. When comparing the current study and that of the year 1999/2000, species typical of savannah environments have been replaced by forest species. In this sense, it is possible to assume that the absence of fire is restructuring the small mammal assemblages at Serra das Araras Ecological Station.