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The establishment of protected areas (PAs) is a central strategy for global biodiversity conservation. While the role of PAs in protecting habitat has been highlighted, their effectiveness at protecting mammal communities remains unclear. We analyzed a global dataset from over 8671 camera traps in 23 countries on four continents that detected 321 medium‐ to large‐bodied mammal species. We found a strong positive correlation between mammal taxonomic diversity and the proportion of a surveyed area covered by PAs at a global scale (β = 0.39, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.19–0.60) and in Indomalaya (β = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.19–1.2), as well as between functional diversity and PA coverage in the Nearctic (β = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.09–0.85), after controlling for human disturbances and environmental variation. Functional diversity was only weakly (and insignificantly) correlated with PA coverage at the global scale (β = 0.22, 95% CI = −0.02–0.46), pointing to a need to better understand the functional response of mammal communities to protection. Our study provides important evidence of the global effectiveness of PAs in conserving terrestrial mammals and emphasizes the critical role of area‐based conservation in a post‐2020 biodiversity framework.

Aim Studies on habitat fragmentation of insect communities mostly ignore the impact of the surrounding landscape matrix and treat all species equally. In our study, on habitat fragmentation and the importance of landscape context, we expected that habitat specialists are more affected by area and isolation, and habitat generalists more by landscape context. Location and methods The study was conducted in the vicinity of the city of Göttingen in Germany in the year 2000. We analysed butterfly communities by transect counts on thirty-two calcareous grasslands differing in size (0.03-5.14 ha), isolation index (2100-86,000/edge-to-edge distance 55-1894 m), and landscape diversity (Shannon-Wiener: 0.09-1.56), which is correlated to percentage grassland in the landscape. Results A total of 15,185 butterfly specimens belonging to fifty-four species are recorded. In multiple regression analysis, the number of habitat specialist (n = 20) and habitat generalist (n = 34) butterfly species increased with habitat area, but z-values (slopes) of the species-area relationships for specialists (z = 0.399) were significantly steeper compared with generalists (z = 0.096). Generalists, but not specialists, showed a marginally significant increase with landscape diversity. Effects of landscape diversity were scale-dependent and significant only at the smallest scale (landscape context within a 250 m radius around the habitat). Habitat isolation was not related to specialist and generalist species numbers. In multiple regression analysis the density of specialists increased significantly with habitat area, whereas generalist density increased only marginally. Habitat isolation and landscape diversity did not show any effects. Main conclusions Habitat area was the most important predictor of butterfly community structure and influenced habitat specialists more than habitat generalists. In contrast to our expectations, habitat isolation had no effect as most butterflies could cope with the degree of isolation in our study region. Landscape diversity appeared to be important for generalist butterflies only.

Aim The partition of the geographical variation in Argentinian terrestrial mammal species richness (SR) into environmentally, human and spatially induced variation. Location Argentina, using the twenty-three administrative provinces as the geographical units. Methods We recorded the number of terrestrial mammal species in each Argentinian province, and the number of species belonging to particular groups (Marsupialia, Placentaria, and among the latter, Xenarthra, Carnivora, Ungulates and Rodentia). We performed multiple regressions of each group's SR on environmental, human and spatial variables, to determine the amounts of variation explained by these factors. We then used a variance partitioning procedure to specify which proportion of the variation in SR is explained by each of the three factors exclusively and which proportions are attributable to interactions between factors. Results For marsupials, human activity explains the greatest part of the variation in SR. The purely environmental and purely human influences on all mammal SR explain a similarly high proportion of the variation in SR, whereas the purely spatial influence accounts for a smaller proportion of it. The exclusive interaction between human activity and space is negative in carnivores and rodents. For rodents, the interaction between environment and spatial situation is also negative. In the remaining placental groups, pure spatial autocorrelation explains a small proportion of the variation in SR. Main conclusions Environmental factors explain most of the variation in placental SR, while Marsupials seem to be mainly affected by human activity. However, for edentates, carnivores, and ungulates the pure human influence is more important than the pure spatial and environmental influences. Besides, human activity disrupts the spatial structure caused by the history and population dynamics of rodents and, to a lesser extent, of carnivores. The historical events and population dynamics on the one hand, and the environment on the other, cause rodent SR to vary in divergent directions. In the remaining placental groups the autocorrelation in SR is mainly the result of autocorrelation in the environmental and human variables. /// Objetivo Descomponer la variación geográfica de la riqueza específica de los mamíferos terrestres argentinos en las siguientes partes: variación inducida por el ambiente, variación inducida por la actividad humana y variación debida a la localización espacial. Localización Argentina, utilizando las 23 provincias administrativas como unidades geográficas. Métodos Se ha registrado el número de especies de mamíferos terrestres en cada provincia argentina, y el número de especies pertenecientes a grupos particulares (Marsupialia, Placentaria y, dentro de estos últimos, Xenarthra, Carnivora, Ungulados y Rodentia). Se han realizado regresiones múltiples de la riqueza específica de cada grupo sobre variables ambientales, humanas y espaciales, para determinar las proporciones de la varianza explicadas por estos factores. Después se utilizó un procedimiento de particóon de la varianza para especificar qué proporción de la variación de la riqueza específica explica cada uno de los tres factores exclusivamente, y qué proporciones se pueden atribuir a interacciones entre factores. Resultados Para los marsupiales, la actividad humana explica la mayor parte de la variación de la riqueza específica. La influencia puramente ambiental y la puramente espacial explican una proporción similarmente alta de la variación de la riqueza específica de la totalidad de mamíferos terrestres, mientras la influencia puramente espacial explica una proporción más pequeña. La interacción exclusiva entre la actividad humana y el espacio es negativa en carnívoros y roedores. Para los roedores, la interacción entre ambiente y situación espacial es también negativa. En los restantes grupos de placentados, la autocorrelación espacial pura explica una proporción pequeña de la variación de la riqueza específica. Conclusiones principales Los factores ambientales explican la mayor parte de la variación de la riqueza específica de placentados, mientras los marsupiales parecen ser principalmente afectados por la actividad humana. Sin embargo, para los desdentados, carnívoros y ungulados la influencia humana pura es más importante que las influencias espacial y ambiental puras. Además, la actividad humana rompe la estructura espacial causada por la historia y dinámica poblacional de los roedores y, en menor medida, de los carnívoros. Los eventos históricos y la dinámica poblacional, por una parte, y el ambiente, por la otra, hacen que la riqueza específica de los roedores varíe en direcciones divergentes. En los demás grupos de placentados la autocorrelación de la riqueza específica se debe principalmente a autocorrelación en las variables ambientales y humanas.

Aim The development of accurate models predicting species range shifts in response to climate change requires studies on the population biology of species whose distributional limits are in the process of shifting. We examine the population biology of an example system using the recent northward range expansion of the marine neogastropod Kelletia kelletii (Forbes, 1852). Location This is a marine coastal shelf neogastropod species whose range extends from Isla Asuncion (Baja California, Mexico) to Monterey (CA, USA). Research sites spanned the extent of the range. Methods We examine abundance distributions and size frequency distributions of K. kelletii for evidence of factors determining historic and contemporary distributional patterns. Population studies were supplemented by historic and contemporary hydrographic data, including seawater temperature data from California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) and National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), and sea-water circulation data. Results The structure of recently established populations varied dramatically from that of historic populations. Markedly low densities and irregular size frequency distributions characterized recently established populations and suggested only occasionally successful recruitment. The point of transition between historic and recently established populations also corresponded to the location of a gradient in seawater temperature and the confluence of two major oceanic currents. The accumulated data suggest that temperature and/or barriers to dispersal could have set both contemporary patterns in population structure as well as the former northern range limit. Main conclusions Early life stages play a critical role in determining distributional patterns of K. kelletii. Dispersal barriers and temperature limitation are two plausible mechanisms that could determine both contemporary and historic distributional patterns. Future studies on this species should attempt to tease apart the relative importance of these factors in maintaining the populations at the northern edge of the range.

1. The increasing awareness that a fire regime that promotes biodiversity in one system can threaten biodiversity in another has resulted in a shift away from fire management based on vague notions of maximising pyrodiversity, towards determining the optimal fire regime based on the demonstrated requirements of target species. 2. We utilised a long-running, replicated fire experiment on Melville Island, the largest island off the northern Australian coast, to test the importance of pyrodiversity for native mammals in a northern Australian savanna landscape. We first developed statistical models to determine how native mammal abundance has responded to nine years of experimentally-manipulated fire frequency. Next, given each species' modelled response to fire frequency, we identified the level of pyrodiversity and optimal mix of fire frequencies that would be expected to maximise mammal diversity and abundance, and minimise extinction risk. This was done for both the entire mammal assemblage and for the mammal species currently declining on Melville Island. 3. Fire frequency was a significant predictor of abundance of the northern brown bandicoot Isoodon macrourus, black-footed tree-rat Mesembriomys gouldii, brushtailed rabbit-rat Conilurus peniciilatus, grassland melomys Melomys burtoni, pale field-rat Rattus tunneyi, and mice/dunnarts but not for the common brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula. 4. The geometric mean abundance (GMA) of the entire mammal assemblage was positively associated with pyrodiversity, but peaked at an intermediate value. Hence, maximising pyrodiversity would reduce native mammal assemblage GMA below its potential maximum. The fire history for an area that maximised the entire native mammal assemblage GMA consisted of 57% long-unburnt, 43% triennially burnt and <1% annually burnt. Pyrodiversity did not reduce the extinction risk, nor increase the GMA of declining mammals above that predicted in areas entirely annually or triennially burnt. 5. Synthesis and applications. We demonstrate a useful approach with which to develop fire management strategies based on the demonstrated requirements of target species. By comparing the optimal fire regime identified for the conservation of threatened species and that identified for the entire mammal assemblage, we demonstrate the flexibility of this approach to tailor fire management to address specific management priorities in other fire-prone environments.

Riparian forests serve as crucial habitats and daily activity corridors for mammal species, providing refuge and natural pathways amidst anthropogenic activities. This study employed camera traps from February to July 2023 along the Mangun River in West Sumatra, Indonesia, with the objective of investigating the use of riparian forests by mammals. The survey identified 20 mammal species, including 19 wild and 1 domestic species, which highlights the presence of significant and globally protected mammals. Notable species recorded include the Sumatran hairy-nosed otter, Eurasian otter, and small-clawed otter. The relative abundance index (RAI) indicated that rodents (8.36), long-tailed macaques (7.45), Asian small-clawed otters (3.50), and pig-tailed macaques (3.49) exhibited the highest activity levels. The observed activity patterns exhibited considerable variation, with diurnal behavior observed in macaques, nocturnal behavior in rodents, and cathemeral behavior in Asian small-clawed otters. These findings underscore the importance of riparian forests in maintaining mammalian biodiversity and ecological corridors, particularly in fragmented landscapes impacted by oil palm plantations. It is imperative that conservation efforts prioritize these habitats in order to support the diverse and threatened mammal populations.

Aim To (1) describe termite functional diversity patterns across five tropical regions using local species richness sampling of standardized areas of habitat; (2) assess the relative importance of environmental factors operating at different spatial and temporal scales in influencing variation in species representation within feeding groups and functional taxonomic groups across the tropics; (3) achieve a synthesis to explain the observed patterns of convergence and divergence in termite functional diversity that draws on termite ecological and biogeographical evidence to-date, as well as the latest evidence for the evolutionary and distributional history of tropical rain forests. Location Pantropical. Methods A pantropical termite species richness data set was obtained through sampling of eighty-seven standardized local termite diversity transects from twenty-nine locations across five tropical regions. Local-scale, intermediate-scale and large-scale environmental data were collected for each transect. Standardized termite assemblage and environmental data were analysed at the levels of whole assemblages and feeding groups (using components of variance analysis) and at the level of functional taxonomic groups (using correspondence analysis and canonical correspondence analysis). Results Overall species richness of local assemblages showed a greater component of variation attributable to local habitat disturbance level than to region. However, an analysis accounting for species richness across termite feeding groups indicated a much larger component of variation attributable to region. Mean local assemblage body size also showed the greater overall significance of region compared with habitat type in influencing variation. Ordination of functional taxonomic group data revealed a primary gradient of variation corresponding to rank order of species richness within sites and to mean local species richness within regions. The latter was in the order: Africa > south America > south-east Asia > Madagascar > Australia. This primary gradient of species richness decrease can be explained by a decrease in species richness of less dispersive functional taxonomic groups feeding on more humified food substrates such as soil. Hence, the transects from more depauperate sites/regions were dominated by more dispersive functional taxonomic groups feeding on less humified food substrates such as dead wood. Direct gradient analysis indicated that 'region' and other large-scale factors were the most important in explaining patterns of local termite functional diversity followed by intermediate-scale geographical and site variables and, finally, local-scale ecological variables. Synthesis and main conclusions Within regions, centres of termite functional diversity lie in lowland equatorial closed canopy tropical forests. Soil feeding termite evolution further down food substrate humification gradients is therefore more likely to have depended on the long-term presence of this habitat. Known ecological and energetic constraints upon contemporary soil feeders lend support for this hypothesis. We propose further that the anomalous distribution of termite soil feeder species richness is partly explained by their generally very poor dispersal abilities across oceans. Evolution, radiation and dispersal of soil feeder diversity appears to have been largely restricted to what are now the African and south American regions. The inter-regional differences in contemporary local patterns of termite species richness revealed by the global data set point to the possibility of large differences in consequent ecosystem processes in apparently similar habitats on different continents.

Aim The global species richness patterns of birds and mammals are strongly congruent. This could reflect similar evolutionary responses to the Earth’s history, shared responses to current climatic conditions, or both. We compare the geographical and phylogenetic structures of both richness gradients to evaluate these possibilities. Location Global. Methods Gridded bird and mammal distribution databases were used to compare their species richness gradients with the current environment. Phylogenetic trees (resolved to family for birds and to species for mammals) were used to examine underlying phylogenetic structures. Our first prediction is that both groups have responded to the same climatic gradients. Our phylogenetic predictions include: (1) that both groups have similar geographical patterns of mean root distance, a measure of the level of the evolutionary development of faunas, and, more directly, (2) that richness patterns of basal and derived clades will differ, with richness peaking in the tropics for basal clades and in the extra‐tropics for derived clades, and that this difference will hold for both birds and mammals. We also explore whether alternative taxonomic treatments for mammals can generate patterns matching those of birds. Results Both richness gradients are associated with the same current environmental gradients. In contrast, neither of our evolutionary predictions is met: the gradients have different phylogenetic structures, and the richness of birds in the lowland tropics is dominated by many basal species from many basal groups, whereas mammal richness is attributable to many species from both few basal groups and many derived groups. Phylogenetic incongruence is robust to taxonomic delineations for mammals. Main conclusions Contemporary climate can force multiple groups into similar diversity patterns even when evolutionary trajectories differ. Thus, as widely appreciated, our understanding of biodiversity must consider responses to both past and present climates, and our results are consistent with predictions that future climate change will cause major, correlated changes in patterns of diversity across multiple groups irrespective of their evolutionary histories.

We examined three decades of changes in the mammal fauna of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the context of climate variability, land use transformation, and anthropogenic pressures. We compiled distributional, abundance, and status data from publications, atlases, official game statistics, and long-term monitoring programs, and we evaluated trends using compound annual growth rates or temporal indices. Our review identified losses such as regional extinctions of garden dormice and European mink, declines in small insectivores (e.g., pond bats and shrews) and herbivores (e.g., Microtus voles), and the contraction of boreal specialists (e.g., Siberian flying squirrels). However, we also identified gains, including increases in ungulate numbers (e.g., roe deer, red deer, fallow deer, moose, and wild boars before African swine fewer outbreak) and the recovery of large carnivores (e.g., wolves and lynxes). Invasions by non-native species (e.g., American mink, raccoon dog, and raccoon) and episodic disturbances, such as African swine fever and the “anthropause” caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, have further reshaped community composition. The drivers encompass climatic warming, post-socialist forest succession, intensified hunting management, and rewilding policies, with dispersal capacity mediating the responses of species. Our results underscore the dual legacy of historical land use and contemporary climate forcing in structuring the fauna dynamics of Baltic mammal communities in the face of declining specialists and invasive taxa.