TY - JOUR
T1 - Drivers of habitat availability for terrestrial mammals
T2 - Unravelling the role of livestock, land conversion and intrinsic traits in the past 50 years
AU - Pacifici, Michela
AU - Cristiano, Andrea
AU - Lumbierres, Maria
AU - Lucherini, Mauro
AU - Mallon, David
AU - Meijaard, Erik
AU - Solari, Sergio
AU - Tognelli, Marcelo F.
AU - Belant, Jerrold L.
AU - Butynski, Thomas M.
AU - Cronin, Drew
AU - d'Huart, Jean‐Pierre
AU - Da Re, Daniele
AU - de Jong, Yvonne A.
AU - Dheer, Arjun
AU - Fei, Li
AU - Gallina, Sonia
AU - Goodrich, John M.
AU - Harihar, Abishek
AU - Lopez Gonzalez, Carlos A.
AU - King, Sarah R. B.
AU - Lewison, Rebecca L.
AU - de Melo, Fabiano R.
AU - Napolitano, Constanza
AU - Rahman, Dede Aulia
AU - Robinson, Phillip T.
AU - Robinson, Timothy
AU - Rondinini, Carlo
AU - Semiadi, Gono
AU - Strier, Karen
AU - Talebi, Mauricio
AU - Taylor, William Andrew
AU - Thiel‐Bender, Christine
AU - Ting, Nelson
AU - Wiesel, Ingrid
N1 - Funding information: M.P. thanks David Hewitt for providing valuable inputs on drawing species' past range maps. M.P. acknowledges financial support from Azione IV.6 ‘Dottorati e contratti di ricerca su tematiche green’. A.C. acknowledges financial support from the Research Development Fund Studentship Scheme provided by Northumbria University, project reference number RDF20/EE/GES/SUGGITT. M.L. has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 766417. C.N. wishes to thank funding from ANID PAI 77190064, ANID Fondecyt Regular 1220758, ANID/BASAL FB210018 and ANID/BASAL FB210006. D.C. thank the Government of Equatorial Guinea, the Universidad Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial and the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Project, and has received funding from ExxonMobil Foundation, Mobil Equatorial Guinea, Inc. and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
PY - 2023/12/1
Y1 - 2023/12/1
N2 - The global decline of terrestrial species is largely due to the degradation, loss and fragmentation of their habitats. The conversion of natural ecosystems for cropland, rangeland, forest products and human infrastructure are the primary causes of habitat deterioration. Due to the paucity of data on the past distribution of species and the scarcity of fine‐scale habitat conversion maps, however, accurate assessment of the recent effects of habitat degradation, loss and fragmentation on the range of mammals has been near impossible. We aim to assess the proportions of available habitat within the lost and retained parts of mammals' distribution ranges, and to identify the drivers of habitat availability. We produced distribution maps for 475 terrestrial mammals for the range they occupied 50 years ago and compared them to current range maps. We then calculated the differences in the percentage of ‘area of habitat’ (habitat available to a species within its range) between the lost and retained range areas. Finally, we ran generalized linear mixed models to identify which variables were more influential in determining habitat availability in the lost and retained parts of the distribution ranges. We found that 59% of species had a lower proportion of available habitat in the lost range compared to the retained range, thus hypothesizing that habitat loss could have contributed to range declines. The most important factors negatively affecting habitat availability were the conversion of land to rangeland and high density of livestock. Significant intrinsic traits were those related to reproductive timing and output, habitat breadth and medium body size. Our findings emphasize the importance of implementing conservation strategies to mitigate the impacts caused by human activities on the habitats of mammals, and offer evidence indicating which species have the potential to reoccupy portions of their former range if other threats cease to occur.
AB - The global decline of terrestrial species is largely due to the degradation, loss and fragmentation of their habitats. The conversion of natural ecosystems for cropland, rangeland, forest products and human infrastructure are the primary causes of habitat deterioration. Due to the paucity of data on the past distribution of species and the scarcity of fine‐scale habitat conversion maps, however, accurate assessment of the recent effects of habitat degradation, loss and fragmentation on the range of mammals has been near impossible. We aim to assess the proportions of available habitat within the lost and retained parts of mammals' distribution ranges, and to identify the drivers of habitat availability. We produced distribution maps for 475 terrestrial mammals for the range they occupied 50 years ago and compared them to current range maps. We then calculated the differences in the percentage of ‘area of habitat’ (habitat available to a species within its range) between the lost and retained range areas. Finally, we ran generalized linear mixed models to identify which variables were more influential in determining habitat availability in the lost and retained parts of the distribution ranges. We found that 59% of species had a lower proportion of available habitat in the lost range compared to the retained range, thus hypothesizing that habitat loss could have contributed to range declines. The most important factors negatively affecting habitat availability were the conversion of land to rangeland and high density of livestock. Significant intrinsic traits were those related to reproductive timing and output, habitat breadth and medium body size. Our findings emphasize the importance of implementing conservation strategies to mitigate the impacts caused by human activities on the habitats of mammals, and offer evidence indicating which species have the potential to reoccupy portions of their former range if other threats cease to occur.
KW - mammals
KW - habitat loss
KW - range change
KW - area of habitat
KW - pasture
KW - cropland
KW - livestock
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173442475&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/gcb.16964
DO - 10.1111/gcb.16964
M3 - Article
SN - 1354-1013
VL - 29
SP - 6900
EP - 6911
JO - Global Change Biology
JF - Global Change Biology
IS - 24
ER -