Multi-region occupancy models reveal broad-scale land-use effects on medium-sized mammals

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Wildlife Conservation
• Spatial Ecology

Background:

• Effective wildlife management requires understanding species' responses to environmental factors across large areas.
• Standardized, broad-scale surveys are crucial for identifying general patterns and informing conservation strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify key environmental drivers of medium-sized mammal occupancy across diverse regions.
• To support broad-scale inference on species-environment relationships for conservation planning.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a camera-trap dataset from 15 study areas in mainland Portugal across three macrobioclimatic regions.
• Employed hierarchical modeling to assess influences of land-use, elevation, human footprint, seasonality, prey, and hunting on species occupancy.
• Accounted for spatial dependencies using nested random effects.

Main Results:

• Species occupancy was mainly driven by broad-scale land-use composition and configuration, with some species influenced by elevation.
• Human footprint, hunting, and seasonality showed minimal impact on occupancy at the broad spatial scale.
• Lagomorphs and carnivores exhibited distinct responses to land-use gradients, highlighting taxa-specific sensitivities.

Conclusions:

• Land-use composition and configuration consistently influence medium-sized mammal occupancy across different regions.
• Large-scale monitoring frameworks are essential for developing transferable conservation strategies beyond site-specific findings.
• Land-use management informed by broad-scale patterns is vital for effective wildlife conservation.