Palmeirim, Ana Filipa Mateus Ramos Marques, 1987-Rainho, Ana, 1971-Oliveira, Raquel Nogueira de2024-04-092024-04-0920242023http://hdl.handle.net/10451/64093Tese de mestrado, Biologia da Conservação , 2023, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de CiênciasThe need to meet human population increasing requirements while ensuring biodiversity conservation has challenged current management practices and called for nature-based solutions. This is particularly relevant in the understudied Afrotropical landscapes where food insecurity meets high levels of biodiversity. These nature-based solutions can include the integration of mosaic landscapes containing patches of native habitat within human-modified landscapes and ecologically based pest management. However, a prerequisite to implement these solutions efficiently is to understand how different groups use and persist across humanmodified landscapes and identifying the species present. This study investigates small mammal diversity patterns (species richness, Shannon index, abundance and composition) in rural landscapes of GuineaBissau at different scales in three habitats: forests, bolanhas (local name for rice paddies) and cashew orchards. Small mammals were sampled across 15 sampling sites using Sherman live traps. We captured 230 individuals belonging to 11 species. At a local scale, small mammal composition differed across the habitats, with bolanhas supporting distinctive assemblages. However, species richness and Shannon diversity index remained similar between the three habitats. At a landscape scale, both observed species richness and abundance were higher in landscapes with higher proportion of bolanha, highlighting the importance of this habitat for small mammals. Conversely, abundance was lower under higher proportions of cashew orchards, reflecting the potentially lower availability of resources in this habitat. Overall, our results support the idea that mosaic landscapes are beneficial for small mammals, particularly those with a reasonable bolanha coverage and reduced proportions of cashew orchards. These findings strengthen the potential role of heterogeneous landscapes comprising agricultural crops and native habitat in fostering biodiversity conservation. This study serves as a baseline knowledge to develop tailored management strategies and policies aimed at enhancing crop productivity and food security while concurrently addressing pest-related challenges and preserving biodiversity across tropical modified landscapes.engAgriculturaAlteração do uso da terraArrozaisExpansão do cajuGestão de roedoresTeses de mestrado - 2024master thesis203600096