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Functional diversity loss and change in nocturnal behavior of mammals under anthropogenic disturbance
Author(s) -
Li Xueyou,
Hu Wenqiang,
Bleisch William V.,
Li Quan,
Wang Hongjiao,
Lu Wen,
Sun Jun,
Zhang Fuyou,
Ti Bu,
Jiang Xuelong
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1111/cobi.13839
Subject(s) - disturbance (geology) , nocturnal , ecology , diversity (politics) , functional diversity , geography , biology , paleontology , sociology , anthropology
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.