Occupancy winners in tropical protected forests: a pantropical analysis.

Area of Science:

• Tropical ecology
• Wildlife conservation
• Mammalian community dynamics

Background:

• Forest mammal communities exhibit remarkable consistency across the tropics, likely driven by convergent evolution.
• The predictability of mammal occupancy patterns, considering species traits and regional contexts, remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether mammal occupancy patterns can be predicted across tropical regions.
• To determine if relationships between species characteristics (feeding guild, body mass, ecological specialization) and occupancy are consistent biogeographically.

Main Methods:

• Utilized standardized camera-trap data from 1002 locations across the tropics, spanning 2-10 years.
• Employed a hierarchical Bayesian occupancy model to analyze species occupancy and its drivers.

Main Results:

• Mammal occupancy varied significantly across regions, with species traits explaining much of this variation.
• Herbivores consistently demonstrated the highest occupancy rates.
• Large mammals had lower occupancy in the Neotropics, and habitat specialists generally had higher occupancy, except in the Indo-Malayan region where generalists were more frequent.

Conclusions:

• Habitat specialization is a critical factor influencing mammal occupancy variations across tropical protected areas.
• Habitat specialists often derive greater benefits from protected areas compared to generalists.
• Distinct anthropogenic pressures in regions like the Indo-Malayan area may explain reversed occupancy patterns for specialists versus generalists.