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Living in the edge: large terrestrial mammal and bird species traits and the ability to cope with extreme environmental conditions and human disturbance in a tropical dry forest in Colombia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2024

Andrés Montes-Rojas Open the ORCID record for Andrés Montes-Rojas [Opens in a new window] ,
Juan S. Hernández-Rodríguez ,
Nelson F. Galvis  and
Andres Link
Andrés Montes-Rojas*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
Juan S. Hernández-Rodríguez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
Nelson F. Galvis
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
Andres Link
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
*
Corresponding author: Andrés Montes-Rojas; Email: af.montes@uniandes.edu.co
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Abstract

Tropical drylands are characterized by extreme environmental conditions that, coupled with anthropogenic habitat degradation, can limit the occurrence of native species. Species that are most sensitive to these pressures may be prone to disappear in the context of climate change. In this study, we evaluated the influence of environmental and anthropogenic variables on the occurrence of large mammals and birds at the Tatacoa Desert, an arid region in central Colombia. We tested the relationship between the magnitude of the species’ responses to environmental, human-related variables and to body mass, and percentage of carnivory. Overall, we found a positive association between forest cover and the occupancy of the largest mammals (> 8kg), negative associations between solar radiation and human footprint with individual species occupancy, and a positive association of species occupancy with distance to touristic sites. Our results suggest that the largest and/or more carnivore species may be affected positively by forest cover and negatively by intense solar radiation highlighting the consequences of the increasing process of desertification on large mammals and birds at the upper Magdalena River basin of Colombia under the current scenario of global climate change.

Keywords

Camera trapsdrylandextreme environmenthuman-made disturbanceSpecies traitsoccupancy modeling
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 39 , 2024 , e14
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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