Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-15T18:59:23.690Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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*
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

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.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acosta-Galvis, AR (2012) Anfibios de los enclaves secos en la ecorregión de La Tatacoa y su área de influencia, alto Magdalena, Colombia. Biota Colombiana 13, 182258.Google Scholar
Allen, RB, Forsyth, DM, Allen, RK, Affeld, K and MacKenzie, DI (2015) Solar radiation determines site occupancy of coexisting tropical and temperate deer species introduced to New Zealand forests. PLoS One 10, e0128924.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ayram, CAC, Etter, A, Díaz-Timoté, J, Buriticá, SR, Ramírez, W and Corzo, G (2020) Spatiotemporal evaluation of the human footprint in Colombia: four decades of anthropic impact in highly biodiverse ecosystems. Ecological Indicators 117, 106630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barcelos, D, Vieira, EM, Pinheiro, MS and Ferreira, GB (2022) A before− after assessment of the response of mammals to tourism in a Brazilian national park. Oryx 56, 854863.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bastos, B, Pradhan, N, Tarroso, P, Brito, JC and Boratyński, Z (2021) Environmental determinants of minimum body temperature in mammals. Journal of Vertebrate Biology 70, 21004.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bergmann, C (1848) Über die Verhältnisse der Wärmeökonomie der Thiere zu ihrer Grösse. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Birdlife International (2024) BirdLife Data Zone. https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/dnlrequest (accessed 19 January 2024)Google Scholar
Bogoni, JA, Ferraz, KM and Peres, CA (2022) Continental-scale local extinctions in mammal assemblages are synergistically induced by habitat loss and hunting pressure. Biological Conservation 272, 109635.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boron, V, Deere, NJ, Xofis, P, Link, A, Quiñones-Guerrero, A, Payan, E and Tzanopoulos, J (2019) Richness, diversity, and factors influencing occupancy of mammal communities across human-modified landscapes in Colombia. Biological Conservation 232, 108116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brito, JC, Godinho, R, Martínez-Freiría, F, Pleguezuelos, JM, Rebelo, H, Santos, X, Vale, CG, Velo-Antón, G, Boratyński, Z and Carvalho, SB (2014) Unravelling biodiversity, evolution and threats to conservation in the Sahara-Sahel. Biological Reviews 89, 215231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brito, JC, Sow, AS, Vale, CG, Pizzigalli, C, Hamidou, D, Gonçalves, DV, Martínez-Freiría, F, Santarém, F, Rebelo, H and Campos, JC (2022) Diversity, distribution and conservation of land mammals in Mauritania, North-West Africa. Plos One 17, e0269870.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brito, JC, Tarroso, P, Vale, CG, Martínez-Freiría, F, Boratyński, Z, Campos, JC, Ferreira, S, Godinho, R, Gonçalves, DV and Leite, JV (2016) Conservation biogeography of the Sahara-Sahel: additional protected areas are needed to secure unique biodiversity. Diversity and Distributions 22, 371384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Congedo, L (2021) Semi-automatic classification plugin: a python tool for the download and processing of remote sensing images in QGIS. Journal of Open Source Software 6, 3172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cormont, A, Vos, CC, van Turnhout, CA, Foppen, RP and ter Braak, CJ (2011) Using life-history traits to explain bird population responses to changing weather variability. Climate Research 49, 5971.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Gabriel Hernando, M, Fernández-Gil, J, Roa, I, Juan, J, Ortega, F, de la Calzada, F and Revilla, E (2021) Warming threatens habitat suitability and breeding occupancy of rear-edge alpine bird specialists. Ecography 44, 11911204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Luna Uribe, AG (2017) Ecología, Densidades Poblacionales y Estado de Conservación de los Primates del Magdalena medio Colombiano con Énfasis en uno de los Primates más Amenazados con la Extinción en el mundo, el Mono araña café (Ateles hybridus). Madrid: Universidad Complutense de Madrid.Google Scholar
Degen, AA (2012) Ecophysiology of Small Desert Mammals. Berlin: Springer Science & Business Media.Google Scholar
Dorazio, RM and Royle, JA (2005) Estimating size and composition of biological communities by modeling the occurrence of species. Journal of the American Statistical Association 100, 389398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drouilly, M, Clark, A and O’Riain, MJ (2018) Multi-species occupancy modelling of mammal and ground bird communities in rangeland in the Karoo: a case for dryland systems globally. Biological Conservation 224, 1625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fegraus, EH, Lin, K, Ahumada, JA, Baru, C, Chandra, S and Youn, C (2011) Data acquisition and management software for camera trap data: a case study from the TEAM Network. Ecological Informatics 6, 345353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fick, SE and Hijmans, RJ (2017) WorldClim 2: new 1-km spatial resolution climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology 37, 43024315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finley, AO (2013) Using JAGS in R with the rjags package. https://ams206-winter18-01.courses.soe.ucsc.edu/system/files/attachments/jags-tutorial.pdf/ (accessed 10 May 2023)Google Scholar
Gálvez, N, Hernández, F, Laker, J, Gilabert, H, Petitpas, R, Bonacic, C, Gimona, A, Hester, A and Macdonald, DW (2013) Forest cover outside protected areas plays an important role in the conservation of the Vulnerable guiña Leopardus guigna. Oryx 47, 251258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelman, A, Carlin, JB, Stern, HS, Dunson, DB, Vehtari, A and Rubin, DB (2013) Bayesian Data Analysis. Florida: CRC press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, LA, Wilson, BA and Aberton, JG (2004) Landscape characteristics associated with species richness and occurrence of small native mammals inhabiting a coastal heathland: a spatial modelling approach. Biological Conservation 120, 7589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gittleman, JL and Kot, M (1990) Adaptation: statistics and a null model for estimating phylogenetic effects. Systematic Zoology 39, 227241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gyhrs, C, Macedo, T, Bastos, B, Salgado-Irazabal, X, Hammadi, M, Bouarakia, O and Boratyński, Z (2022) High level of daily heterothermy in desert gerbils. Journal of Tropical Ecology 38, 451453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hermelin, M (2016) The tatacoa desert. Landscapes and Landforms of Colombia. Cham: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, JE, DeVault, TL, Wang, G and Belant, JL (2020) Anthropogenic mortality in mammals increases with the human footprint. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 18, 1318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoover, DL, Bestelmeyer, B, Grimm, NB, Huxman, TE, Reed, SC, Sala, O, Seastedt, TR, Wilmer, H and Ferrenberg, S (2020) Traversing the wasteland: a framework for assessing ecological threats to drylands. BioScience 70, 3547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jansen, PA, Ahumada, J, Fegraus, E and O’Brien, T (2014) TEAM: a standardised camera trap survey to monitor terrestrial vertebrate communities in tropical forests. Camera Trapping: Wildlife Research and Management. Clayton: Csiro Publishing.Google Scholar
Kellner, K, Meredith, M and Kellner, MK (2019) Package ‘jagsUI’. CRAN Repos.Google Scholar
Keuroghlian, A, Andrade Santos, MDC and Eaton, DP (2015) The effects of deforestation on white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) home range in the southern Pantanal. Mammalia 79, 491497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, J, Cong, J, Liu, X, Zhou, Y, Wang, X, Li, G and Li, D-Q (2015) Effect of tourist roads on mammal activity in Shennongjia National Nature Reserve based on the trap technique of infrared cameras. Chinese Journal of Ecology 34, 2195.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, DI, Nichols, JD, Lachman, GB, Droege, S, Andrew Royle, J and Langtimm, CA (2002) Estimating site occupancy rates when detection probabilities are less than one. Ecology 83, 22482255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mammal Diversity Database (2024) Mammal Diversity Database. Version(v1.12) Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4139722 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marín Valencia, AL, Álvarez Hincapié, CF, Giraldo, CE and Uribe Soto, S (2018) Análisis multitemporal del paisaje en el Magdalena Medio en el periodo 1985-2011: una ventana de interpretación de cambios históricos e implicaciones en la conectividad estructural de los bosques. Cuadernos de Geografía: Revista Colombiana de Geografía 27, 1026.Google Scholar
McNab, BK (2010) Geographic and temporal correlations of mammalian size reconsidered: a resource rule. Oecologia 164, 1323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ménard, N, Foulquier, A, Vallet, D, Qarro, M, Le Gouar, P and Pierre, J-S (2014) How tourism and pastoralism influence population demographic changes in a threatened large mammal species. Animal Conservation 17, 115124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meza-Joya, FL, Ramos, E and Cardona, D (2019) Spatio-temporal patterns of mammal road mortality in Middle Magdalena Valley, Colombia. Oecologia Australis 23, 575588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Institution (2023) Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). https://www.itis.gov/ (accessed 19 January 2024)Google Scholar
Nickel, BA, Suraci, JP, Allen, ML and Wilmers, CC (2020) Human presence and human footprint have non-equivalent effects on wildlife spatiotemporal habitat use. Biological Conservation 241, 108383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niedballa, J, Sollmann, R, Courtiol, A and Wilting, A (2016) camtrapR: an R package for efficient camera trap data management. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 7, 14571462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peguero-Pina, JJ, Vilagrosa, A, Alonso-Forn, D, Ferrio, JP, Sancho-Knapik, D and Gil-Pelegrín, E (2020) Living in drylands: Functional adaptations of trees and shrubs to cope with high temperatures and water scarcity. Forests 11, 1028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
QGIS Development Team (2020) QGIS Geographic Information System. http://qgis.osgeo.org Google Scholar
R Core Team (2022) R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.Google Scholar
Rich, LN, Miller, DA, Robinson, HS, McNutt, JW and Kelly, MJ (2016) Using camera trapping and hierarchical occupancy modelling to evaluate the spatial ecology of an African mammal community. Journal of Applied Ecology 53, 12251235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rios, E, Benchimol, M, Dodonov, P, De Vleeschouwer, K and Cazetta, E (2021) Testing the habitat amount hypothesis and fragmentation effects for medium-and large-sized mammals in a biodiversity hotspot. Landscape Ecology 36, 13111323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rojas-Marín, CA, Pérez-Gómez, U and Fernández-Méndez, F (2019) Dinámica espaciotemporal de los procesos de desertificación y revegetalización natural en el enclave seco de La Tatacoa, Colombia. Cuadernos de Geografía: Revista Colombiana de Geografía 28, 134151.Google Scholar
Salvatori, M, Oberosler, V, Rinaldi, M, Franceschini, A, Truschi, S, Pedrini, P and Rovero, F (2023) Crowded mountains: long-term effects of human outdoor recreation on a community of wild mammals monitored with systematic camera trapping. Ambio 52, 10851097.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sarmiento, G (1975) The dry plant formations of South America and their floristic connections. Journal of Biogeography 2, 233251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarmiento, G (1976) Evolution of arid vegetation in tropical America. In Evolution of Desert Biota. Texas: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Schiaffini, MI (2016) A test of the Resource’s and Bergmann’s rules in a widely distributed small carnivore from southern South America, Conepatus chinga (Molina, 1782)(Carnivora: Mephitidae). Mammalian Biology 81, 7381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shachak, M, Gosz, JR, Pickett, ST and Perevolotsky, A (2005) Biodiversity in Drylands: toward a Unified Framework. Oxford: Oxford University Press on Demand.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soriano, PJ and Ruiz, A (2006) A functional comparison between bat assemblages of Andean arid enclaves. Ecotropicos 19, 112.Google Scholar
Soto-Shoender, JR, Gwinn, DC, Sovie, A and McCleery, RA (2020) Life-history traits moderate the susceptibility of native mammals to an invasive predator. Biological Invasions 22, 26712684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suraci, JP, Gaynor, KM, Allen, ML, Alexander, P, Brashares, JS, Cendejas-Zarelli, S, Crooks, K, Elbroch, LM, Forrester, T and Green, AM (2021) Disturbance type and species life history predict mammal responses to humans. Global Change Biology 27, 37183731.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
TEAM Network (2011) Terrestrial Vertebrate Protocol Implementation Manual, v. 3.1. Tropical Ecology, Assessment and Monitoring Network, Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, Arlington, VA, USA. Arlington, VA: TEAM Network.Google Scholar
Thatte, P, Chandramouli, A, Tyagi, A, Patel, K, Baro, P, Chhattani, H and Ramakrishnan, U (2020) Human footprint differentially impacts genetic connectivity of four wide-ranging mammals in a fragmented landscape. Diversity and Distributions 26, 299314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toews, M (2016) Managing Human Footprint with Respect to its Effects on Large Mammals: Implications of Spatial Scale, Divergent Responses and Ecological Thresholds. Victoria: University of Victoria.Google Scholar
Toews, M, Juanes, F and Burton, AC (2018) Mammal responses to the human footprint vary across species and stressors. Journal of Environmental Management 217, 690699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torres, R, Gasparri, NI, Blendinger, PG and Grau, HR (2014) Land-use and land-cover effects on regional biodiversity distribution in a subtropical dry forest: a hierarchical integrative multi-taxa study. Regional Environmental Change 14, 15491561.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verheyen, K, Honnay, O, Motzkin, G, Hermy, M and Foster, DR (2003) Response of forest plant species to land-use change: a life-history trait-based approach. Journal of Ecology 91, 563577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webb, JK, Brook, BW and Shine, R (2002) What makes a species vulnerable to extinction? Comparative life-history traits of two sympatric snakes. Ecological Research 17, 5967.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilman, H, Belmaker, J, Simpson, J, de la Rosa, C, Rivadeneira, MM and Jetz, W (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world’s birds and mammals: ecological archives E095-178. Ecology 95, 20272027.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Montes-Rojas et al. supplementary material

Montes-Rojas et al. supplementary material
Download Montes-Rojas et al. supplementary material(File)
File 24.4 KB