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Landscape-level human disturbance results in loss and contraction of mammalian populations in tropical forests


Abstract Tropical forests hold most of Earth’s biodiversity and a higher concentration of threatened mammals than other biomes. As a result, some mammal species persist almost exclusively in protected areas, often within extensively transformed and heavily populated landscapes. Other species depend on remaining remote forested areas with sparse human populations. However, it remains unclear how mammalian communities in tropical forests respond to anthropogenic pressures in the broader landscape in which they are embedded. As governments commit to increasing the extent of global protected areas to prevent further biodiversity loss, identifying the landscape-level conditions supporting wildlife has become essential. Here, we assessed the relationship between mammal communities and anthropogenic threats in the broader landscape. We simultaneously modeled species richness and community occupancy as complementary metrics of community structure, using a state-of-the-art community model parameterized with a standardized pan-tropical data set of 239 mammal species from 37 forests across 3 continents. Forest loss and fragmentation within a 50-km buffer were associated with reduced occupancy in monitored communities, while species richness was unaffected by them. In contrast, landscape-scale human density was associated with reduced mammal richness but not occupancy, suggesting that sensitive species have been extirpated, while remaining taxa are relatively unaffected. Taken together, these results provide evidence of extinction filtering within tropical forests triggered by anthropogenic pressure occurring in the broader landscape. Therefore, existing and new reserves may not achieve the desired biodiversity outcomes without concurrent investment in addressing landscape-scale threats.
Authors Ilaria Greco ORCID , Lydia Beaudrot ORCID , Chris Sutherland ORCID , Simone Tenan ORCID , Chia Hsieh ORCID , Daniel Gorczynski ORCID , Douglas Sheil ORCID , Jedediah F. Brodie ORCID , M. Firoz Ahmed ORCID , Jorge Ahumada ORCID , Rajan Amin ORCID , Megan Baker-Watton , Ramie H. Begum ORCID , Francesco Bisi ORCID , Robert Bitariho ORCID , Ahimsa Campos‐Arceiz ORCID , Elildo A. R. Carvalho ORCID , Daniel Cornélis ORCID , Giacomo Cremonesi ORCID , Virgínia Londe de Camargos ORCID , Iariaella Elimanantsoa , Santiago Espinosa ORCID , Adeline Fayolle , Davy Fonteyn ORCID , Abishek Harihar ORCID , Harry Hilser ORCID , Alys Granados ORCID , Patrick A. Jansen ORCID , Jayasilan Mohd‐Azlan ORCID , Caspian Johnson ORCID , Steig Johnson , Dipankar Lahkar ORCID , Marcela Guimarães Moreira Lima ORCID , Matthew Scott Luskin ORCID , Marcelo Magioli ORCID , Emanuel H. Martin ORCID , Adriano Martinoli ORCID , Ronaldo Gonçalves Morato ORCID , Badru Mugerwa ORCID , Lain E. Pardo ORCID , Julia Salvador University of WyomingORCID , Fernanda Santos ORCID , Cédric Vermeulen ORCID , Patricia C. Wright ORCID , Francesco Rovero ORCID
Journal Info Public Library of Science | PLoS Biology , vol: 23 , iss: 2 , pages: e3002976 - e3002976
Publication Date 2/13/2025
ISSN 1544-9173
TypeKeyword Image article
Open Access gold Gold Access
DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002976
KeywordsKeyword Image Occupancy (Score: 0.6134329) , Biome (Score: 0.52556974) , Biodiversity hotspot (Score: 0.5135234) , Mammal (Score: 0.4971924) , Extinction (optical mineralogy) (Score: 0.44592232) , Deforestation (Score: 0.4290593) , Landscape connectivity (Score: 0.41705513)