Tucker, MA;
Santini, L;
Carbone, C;
Mueller, T;
(2020)
Mammal population densities at a global scale are higher in human‐modified areas.
Ecography
10.1111/ecog.05126.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
Carbone_ecog.05126.pdf - Published Version Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Global landscapes are changing due to human activities with consequences for both biodiversity and ecosystems. For single species, terrestrial mammal population densities have shown mixed responses to human pressure, with both increasing and decreasing densities reported in the literature. How the impacts of human activities on mammal populations translates into altered global density patterns remains unclear. Here we aim to disentangle the effect of human impacts on large‐scale patterns of mammal population densities using a global dataset of 6729 population density estimates for 468 mammal species (representing 59% and 44% of mammalian orders and families). We fitted a mixed effect model to explain the variation in density based on a 1‐degree resolution as a function of the human footprint index (HFI), a global proxy of direct and indirect human disturbances, while accounting for body mass, trophic level and primary productivity (normalized vegetation index; NDVI). We found a significant positive relationship between population density and HFI, where population densities were higher in areas with a higher HFI (e.g. agricultural or suburban areas – no populations were located in very high HFI urban areas) compared to areas with a low HFI (e.g. wilderness areas). We also tested the effect of the individual components of the HFI and still found a consistent positive effect. The relationships remained positive even across populations of the same species, although variability among species was high. Our results indicate shifts in mammal population densities in human modified landscapes, which is due to the combined effect of species filtering, increased resources and a possible reduction in competition and predation. Our study provides further evidence that macroecological patterns are being altered by human activities, where some species will benefit from these activities, while others will be negatively impacted or even extirpated.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Mammal population densities at a global scale are higher in human‐modified areas |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/ecog.05126 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.05126 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Ecography published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic Society Oikos. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | abundance, Anthropocene, demography, human footprint, landscape fragmentation, terrestrial mammal |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10111102 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
