Diversity and abundance of the species of arboreal mammals in a tropical rainforest in southeast Mexico.

Habitat loss threatens biodiversity worldwide being particularly detrimental in tropical rainforest where a cumulative deforestation expands for decades. Tropical rainforests harbor a rich mammal diversity with a wide range of species using different habitats, ranging from forest-dwelling to arboreal species. Recent techniques as camera trapping have proven useful to study the ecology of arboreal mammals. Here we assessed the overall community structure of arboreal mammals in a protected area by analyzing patterns of diversity and abundance and their spatial and seasonal variations. A total of 21 camera-trapping stations were set in clusters in three zones. Spatial and seasonal alpha diversity, and community evenness patterns were estimated using Hill’s numbers, and Sørensen’s dissimilarities were used as a proxy to estimate beta diversity. A relative abundance index was calculated for each species, at each site and season. To estimate the influence of spatial and tree-morphology on arboreal use by mammals, linear regressions were performed for species richness, evenness, and abundance; logistic regression were used to test correlations with presence/absence data. We observed a high species richness (14 species) of arboreal mammals. Species richness remained similar between sites, although shifts in abundances, and a decreasing gradient in community evenness related to distance of camera trap station located in each site were observed. We observed a high and low diversity dissimilarity between camera trap stations and between sites, respectively. Seasonality showed no significant effect over abundance, alpha and beta diversities. Linear and logistic regression of arboreal use by mammals was determined by several environmental variables. This protected area holds the natural habitat conditions to ensure the persistence of this rich arboreal mammal community.