Functional diversity loss and change in nocturnal behavior of mammals under anthropogenic disturbance |
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Authors: | Xueyou Li Wenqiang Hu William V Bleisch Quan Li Hongjiao Wang Wen Lu Jun Sun Fuyou Zhang Bu Ti Xuelong Jiang |
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Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China;2. China Exploration and Research Society, Hong Kong, China;3. Nuozhadu Provincial Nature Reserve Administrative Bureau, Pu'er, China;4. Gongshan Administrative Sub-Bureau of Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve, Nujiang, China;5. Baoshan Administrative Bureau of Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve, Baoshan, China;6. Deqin Administrative Sub-Bureau of Baimaxueshan National Nature Reserve, Diqing, China |
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Abstract: | In the Anthropocene, understanding the impacts of anthropogenic influence on biodiversity and behavior of vulnerable wildlife communities is increasingly relevant to effective conservation. However, comparative studies aimed at disentangling the concurrent effect of different types of human disturbance on multifaceted biodiversity and on activity patterns of mammals are surprisingly rare. We applied a multiregion community model to separately estimate the effects of cumulative human modification (e.g., settlement, agriculture, and transportation) and human presence (aggregated presence of dogs, people, and livestock) on species richness and functional composition of medium- and large-bodied mammals based on camera trap data collected across 45 subtropical montane forests. We divided the detected mammal species into three trophic guilds–carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores–and assessed the nocturnal shifts of each guild in response to anthropogenic activities. Overall, species richness tended to increase (β coefficient = 0.954) as human modification increased but richness decreased as human presence increased (β = –1.054). Human modification was associated with significantly lower functional diversity (mean nearest taxon distance MNTD], β = –0.134; standardized effect sizes of MNTD, β = –0.397), community average body mass (β = –0.240), and proportion of carnivores (β = –0.580). Human presence was associated with a strongly reduced proportion of herbivores (β = –0.522), whereas proportion of omnivores significantly increased as human presence (β = 0.378) and habitat modification (β = 0.419) increased. In terms of activity patterns, omnivores (β = 12.103) and carnivores (β = 9.368) became more nocturnal in response to human modification. Our results suggest that human modification and human presence have differing effects on mammals and demonstrate that anthropogenic disturbances can lead to drastic loss of functional diversity and result in a shift to nocturnal behavior of mammals. Conservation planning should consider concurrent effects of different types of human disturbance on species richness, functional diversity, and behavior of wildlife communities. |
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Keywords: | camera trap community occupancy functional traits human disturbance southwest China trophic guild wildlife nocturnality fototrampas gremio trófico hábitos nocturnos de la fauna ocupación comunitaria perturbación humana rasgos funcionales suroeste de China 红外相机 群落占域 率功能性状 人为干扰 中国西南 生态类群 野生动物夜行性 |
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