Use of abandoned buildings by mammals in tropical forest sites with no forest control

Abstract

Mammal species can proliferate in abandoned buildings located in areas with medium evergreen tropical forest.  This study assessed the wildlife that currently inhabits the abandoned buildings within the Parqueológico de la Flora y la Fauna Tropicales “Ingeniero José Narciso Rovirosa” (Tropical Wildlife Ecological Park; PFFT, in Spanish), located in the Emiliano Zapata municipality, Tabasco, México; this site has been abandoned for more than 3 decades.  We placed rodent traps and bat nets within the PFFT facilities in 2019 and 2021.  This site currently comprises areas of medium evergreen tropical forest, pastures, and acahual (a successional stage of medium evergreen tropical forest).  Besides, we conducted sightings of mammal species in access roads and within abandoned buildings.  Twenty-two species of terrestrial mammals were recorded in medium evergreen tropical forest, pastures, and acahual patches; bats attained the highest capture rate, followed by rodents.  The individuals observed in the medium evergreen tropical forest belonged to the orders Didelphimorphia, Carnivora, Cingulata, Primates, and Lagomorpha.  Two species are under a conservation status in national and international listings.  Today, PFFT is an area where multiple mammal species coexist in a tropical habitat.  The recorded mammal species are considered locally abundant and were observed in buildings surrounded by different types of plant cover.  This work shows the establishment of a mammal community typical of medium evergreen tropical forest in sites with abandoned buildings undergoing a recolonization process by the local vegetation.

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