Human disturbance and shifts in vertebrate community composition in a biodiversity hotspot |
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Authors: | Juan S Vargas Soto Christopher Beirne Andrew Whitworth Juan Carlos Cruz Diaz Eleanor Flatt Ruthmery Pillco-Huarcaya Erik R Olson Alejandro Azofeifa Guido Saborío-R Roberto Salom-Pérez Deiver Espinoza-Muñoz Leslie Hay Lawrence Whittaker Carmen Roldán Ricardo Bedoya-Arrieta Eben North Broadbent Péter K Molnár |
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Institution: | 1. Laboratory of Quantitative Global Change Ecology, Biological Sciences Department, University of Toronto, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada;2. Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;3. Osa Conservation, Washington, DC, USA;4. Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA;5. Northland College, Ashland, Wisconsin, USA;6. Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación, Área de Conservación Osa, Golfito, Costa Rica;7. Panthera, San José, Costa Rica;8. Southwestern Region Wildlife Program, U.S. Forest Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA;9. Osa Conservation, Washington, DC, USA
Rainforest Connection, San Francisco, California, USA;10. Fondo Nacional de Financiamiento Forestal, San José, Costa Rica;11. Spatial Ecology and Conservation (SPEC) Lab, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA |
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Abstract: | Understanding how human modification of the landscape shapes vertebrate community composition is vital to understanding the current status and future trajectory of wildlife. Using a participatory approach, we deployed the largest camera-trap network in Mesoamerica to date to investigate how anthropogenic disturbance shapes the occupancy and co-occurrence of terrestrial vertebrate species in a tropical biodiversity hotspot: the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. We estimated species richness in different categories of land protection with rarefaction analysis and estimated the expected occupancy with a joint species distribution model that included covariates for anthropogenic disturbance, land protection, habitat quality, and habitat availability. Areas with the most stringent land-use protections (e.g., Corcovado National Park, 24 species 95% CI 23–25]) harbored significantly more species than unprotected areas (20 species 19.7–20.3]), mainly due to a reduced presence of large-bodied species of conservation concern in unprotected areas (e.g., jaguar Panthera onca and white-lipped peccary Tayassu pecari). Small-bodied generalist species, such as opossums (Didelphidae) and armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus), in contrast, were more common at disturbed sites, resulting in a significant difference in vertebrate community composition between sites with low and high disturbance. Co-occurrence of species was also mainly associated with response to disturbance. Similar responses to disturbance create two groups of species, those whose site-level occupancy usually increased as anthropogenic disturbance increased and those whose estimated occupancy decreased. The absence of large-bodied species entails an important loss of ecological function in disturbed areas and can hinder forest development and maintenance. Efforts to protect and restore forested landscapes are likely having a positive effect on the abundance of some threatened species. These efforts, however, must be sustained and expanded to increase connectivity and ensure the long-term viability of the wildlife community. |
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Keywords: | camera-trapping collaborative network community shift endangered species tropical forests bosques tropicales cambios comunitarios cámaras trampa especie en peligro red colaborativa 视频 群落转换 热带森林 合作网络 红外相机技术 濒危物种 |
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