Tropical forests hold most of Earth’s biodiversity and a higher concentration of threatened mammals than other biomes. As a result, some mammal species persist almost exclusively in protected areas, often within extensively transformed and heavily populated landscapes. Other species depend on remaining remote forested areas with sparse human populations. However, it remains unclear how mammalian communities in tropical forests respond to anthropogenic pressures in the broader landscape in which they are embedded. As governments commit to increasing the extent of global protected areas to prevent further biodiversity loss, identifying the landscape-level conditions supporting wildlife has become essential. Here, we assessed the relationship between mammal communities and anthropogenic threats in the broader landscape. We simultaneously modeled species richness and community occupancy as complementary metrics of community structure, using a state-of-the-art community model parameterized with a standardized pan-tropical data set of 239 mammal species from 37 forests across 3 continents. Forest loss and fragmentation within a 50-km buffer were associated with reduced occupancy in monitored communities, while species richness was unaffected by them. In contrast, landscape-scale human density was associated with reduced mammal richness but not occupancy, suggesting that sensitive species have been extirpated, while remaining taxa are relatively unaffected. Taken together, these results provide evidence of extinction filtering within tropical forests triggered by anthropogenic pressure occurring in the broader landscape. Therefore, existing and new reserves may not achieve the desired biodiversity outcomes without concurrent investment in addressing landscape-scale threats.
This work is licensed under CC-BY 4.0
This work is licensed under CC-BY 4.0
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TI - Landscape-level human disturbance results in loss and contraction of mammalian populations in tropical forests
AU - Greco, I.
AU - Beaudrot, L.
AU - Sutherland, C.
AU - Tenan, S.
AU - Hsieh, C.
AU - Gorczynski, D.
AU - Sheil, D.
AU - Brodie, J.
AU - Firoz Ahmed, M.
AU - Ahumada, J.
AU - Amin, R.
AU - Baker-Watton, M.
AU - Husneara Begum, R.
AU - Bisi, F.
AU - Bitariho, R.
AU - Campos-Arceiz, A.
AU - Carvalho, E.A.R., Jr
AU - Cornélis, D.
AU - Cremonesi, G.
AU - de Camargos, V.L.
AU - Elimanantsoa, I.
AU - Espinosa, S.
AU - Fayolle, A.
AU - Fonteyn, D.
AU - Harihar, A.
AU - Hilser, H.
AU - Granados, A.
AU - Jansen, P.A.
AU - Mohd-Azlan, J.
AU - Johnson, C.
AU - Johnson, S.
AU - Lahkar, D.
AU - Guimarães Moreira Lima, M.
AU - Luskin, M.S.
AU - Magioli, M.
AU - Martin, E.H.
AU - Martinoli, A.
AU - Gonçalves Morato, R.
AU - Mugerwa, B.
AU - Pardo, L.E.
AU - Salvador, J.
AU - Santos, F.
AU - Vermeulen, C.
AU - Wright, P.C.
AU - Rovero, F.
AB - Tropical forests hold most of Earth’s biodiversity and a higher concentration of threatened mammals than other biomes. As a result, some mammal species persist almost exclusively in protected areas, often within extensively transformed and heavily populated landscapes. Other species depend on remaining remote forested areas with sparse human populations. However, it remains unclear how mammalian communities in tropical forests respond to anthropogenic pressures in the broader landscape in which they are embedded. As governments commit to increasing the extent of global protected areas to prevent further biodiversity loss, identifying the landscape-level conditions supporting wildlife has become essential. Here, we assessed the relationship between mammal communities and anthropogenic threats in the broader landscape. We simultaneously modeled species richness and community occupancy as complementary metrics of community structure, using a state-of-the-art community model parameterized with a standardized pan-tropical data set of 239 mammal species from 37 forests across 3 continents. Forest loss and fragmentation within a 50-km buffer were associated with reduced occupancy in monitored communities, while species richness was unaffected by them. In contrast, landscape-scale human density was associated with reduced mammal richness but not occupancy, suggesting that sensitive species have been extirpated, while remaining taxa are relatively unaffected. Taken together, these results provide evidence of extinction filtering within tropical forests triggered by anthropogenic pressure occurring in the broader landscape. Therefore, existing and new reserves may not achieve the desired biodiversity outcomes without concurrent investment in addressing landscape-scale threats.
PY - 2025
UR - https://www.cifor-icraf.org/knowledge/publication/42916/
DO - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002976
KW - habitat loss, human activities, landscape, mammals, population, tropical forests
ER -Endnote (.ciw)
%T Landscape-level human disturbance results in loss and contraction of mammalian populations in tropical forests
%A Greco, I.
%A Beaudrot, L.
%A Sutherland, C.
%A Tenan, S.
%A Hsieh, C.
%A Gorczynski, D.
%A Sheil, D.
%A Brodie, J.
%A Firoz Ahmed, M.
%A Ahumada, J.
%A Amin, R.
%A Baker-Watton, M.
%A Husneara Begum, R.
%A Bisi, F.
%A Bitariho, R.
%A Campos-Arceiz, A.
%A Carvalho, E.A.R., Jr
%A Cornélis, D.
%A Cremonesi, G.
%A de Camargos, V.L.
%A Elimanantsoa, I.
%A Espinosa, S.
%A Fayolle, A.
%A Fonteyn, D.
%A Harihar, A.
%A Hilser, H.
%A Granados, A.
%A Jansen, P.A.
%A Mohd-Azlan, J.
%A Johnson, C.
%A Johnson, S.
%A Lahkar, D.
%A Guimarães Moreira Lima, M.
%A Luskin, M.S.
%A Magioli, M.
%A Martin, E.H.
%A Martinoli, A.
%A Gonçalves Morato, R.
%A Mugerwa, B.
%A Pardo, L.E.
%A Salvador, J.
%A Santos, F.
%A Vermeulen, C.
%A Wright, P.C.
%A Rovero, F.
%D 2025
%U https://www.cifor-icraf.org/knowledge/publication/42916/
%R https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002976
%X Tropical forests hold most of Earth’s biodiversity and a higher concentration of threatened mammals than other biomes. As a result, some mammal species persist almost exclusively in protected areas, often within extensively transformed and heavily populated landscapes. Other species depend on remaining remote forested areas with sparse human populations. However, it remains unclear how mammalian communities in tropical forests respond to anthropogenic pressures in the broader landscape in which they are embedded. As governments commit to increasing the extent of global protected areas to prevent further biodiversity loss, identifying the landscape-level conditions supporting wildlife has become essential. Here, we assessed the relationship between mammal communities and anthropogenic threats in the broader landscape. We simultaneously modeled species richness and community occupancy as complementary metrics of community structure, using a state-of-the-art community model parameterized with a standardized pan-tropical data set of 239 mammal species from 37 forests across 3 continents. Forest loss and fragmentation within a 50-km buffer were associated with reduced occupancy in monitored communities, while species richness was unaffected by them. In contrast, landscape-scale human density was associated with reduced mammal richness but not occupancy, suggesting that sensitive species have been extirpated, while remaining taxa are relatively unaffected. Taken together, these results provide evidence of extinction filtering within tropical forests triggered by anthropogenic pressure occurring in the broader landscape. Therefore, existing and new reserves may not achieve the desired biodiversity outcomes without concurrent investment in addressing landscape-scale threats.
%K habitat loss
%K human activities
%K landscape
%K mammals
%K population
%K tropical forests
Publication year
2025
ISSN
1545-7885
Authors
Greco, I.; Beaudrot, L.; Sutherland, C.; Tenan, S.; Hsieh, C.; Gorczynski, D.; Sheil, D.; Brodie, J.; Firoz Ahmed, M.; Ahumada, J.; Amin, R.; Baker-Watton, M.; Husneara Begum, R.; Bisi, F.; Bitariho, R.; Campos-Arceiz, A.; Carvalho, E.A.R., Jr; Cornélis, D.; Cremonesi, G.; de Camargos, V.L.; Elimanantsoa, I.; Espinosa, S.; Fayolle, A.; Fonteyn, D.; Harihar, A.; Hilser, H.; Granados, A.; Jansen, P.A.; Mohd-Azlan, J.; Johnson, C.; Johnson, S.; Lahkar, D.; Guimarães Moreira Lima, M.; Luskin, M.S.; Magioli, M.; Martin, E.H.; Martinoli, A.; Gonçalves Morato, R.; Mugerwa, B.; Pardo, L.E.; Salvador, J.; Santos, F.; Vermeulen, C.; Wright, P.C.; Rovero, F.
Language
English
Keywords
habitat loss, human activities, landscape, mammals, population, tropical forests
Source
PLoS Biology. 23(2): e3002976
