Predator-prey temporal niche partitioning under human disturbance: a meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Behavioral Ecology
• Conservation Biology

Background:

• Human activities significantly impact wildlife behavior globally.
• Shifts in daily activity patterns due to human disturbance can disrupt predator-prey interactions and temporal niche partitioning.
• Understanding these behavioral changes is crucial for predicting ecosystem stability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the global effects of human disturbance on the diel activity and temporal overlap of mammalian predator-prey and intraguild predator dyads.
• To determine how species body mass ratios influence the response of temporal overlap to human disturbance.

Main Methods:

• A global meta-analysis was conducted using data from 57 studies.
• The study analyzed 480 mammalian predator-prey and intraguild predator dyads.
• Statistical methods were employed to assess the impact of human disturbance and body mass ratios on diel activity and temporal overlap.

Main Results:

• Overall, human disturbance did not significantly affect temporal overlap between interacting species.
• The effect of human disturbance on temporal overlap was contingent on the body mass ratio between dominant and subordinate species.
• When subordinate species were larger, human disturbance led to compressed temporal niches (increased overlap); when dominant species were larger, it led to expanded temporal niches (decreased overlap).

Conclusions:

• Larger-bodied mammals appear to be disproportionately affected by human disturbance, experiencing altered temporal niche dynamics.
• Large predators face reduced overlap with prey, while large prey face increased overlap with predators under human disturbance.
• Ongoing human expansion will likely continue to reshape animal temporal niches, impacting species interactions, population dynamics, community structure, and evolution.