Predation risk and personality influence seed predation and dispersal by a scatter-hoarding small mammal

Small mammals are key scatter hoarders in forest ecosystems, acting as both seed predators and dispersers. The outcome of their interactions (i.e., predation vs. dispersal) is determined by a series of decisions made by small mammals, such as the choice of seed, whether the seed is immediately consumed or cached, and where it is cached. These decisions are influenced by a variety of factors, including the intrinsic traits of the seed, the individual personality of the scatter hoarder, and the perceived risk of predation while foraging. Furthermore, these factors may all interact to dictate the fate of the seed, with consequences for forest regeneration. Nevertheless, the ways in which perceived predation risk and personality interact to affect the seed dispersal decisions of scatter hoarders are still poorly understood. To contribute in filling this knowledge gap, we tested the hypotheses that southern red-backed voles (Myodes gapperi), an important scatter hoarder in forest ecosystems, would exhibit personality-mediated foraging and that predation risk would alter associations between personality and seed dispersal. We conducted a large-scale field experiment, offering seed trays at stations with altered risk levels and recorded foraging decisions of free-ranging voles with known personalities. We found that personality and perceived predation risk influenced decisions made by foraging voles. Specifically, docility, and boldness predicted foraging site selection, boldness predicted seed species selection and the number of seeds individuals selected, and the tendency to explore of an individual predicted whether voles would remove or consume seeds. Predation risk, mediated by the amount of cover at a site and by moon illumination, affected which foraging site individuals chose, seed species selection, and the probability of removal versus consumption. We did not find support for an interaction between personality and predation risk in predicting foraging decisions. These findings highlight the importance of scatter hoarder personality and perceived predation risk in affecting foraging decisions, with important consequences for seed dispersal and implications for altered patterns of forest regeneration in areas with different small mammal personality distributions or landscapes of fear

Marsupial response to matrix conversion: Results of a large-scale long-term 'natural experiment' in Australia

We quantified changes in forest-dependent mammal populations when the habitat in which they live remains intact but the surrounding matrix is converted from open grazed land to closed pine plantation forest. This situation is increasingly common as plantations are often established on formerly cultivated or grazed land.We conducted a large-scale (30km2), long-term (14years) fully controlled and replicated (111 sites) 'natural experiment' in south-eastern Australia. The study focused on the effects of changes occurring in the matrix on mammals which inhabit patches of native Eucalyptus woodland.We found that none of the five target species in our study (two macropods, two possums and a glider) responded negatively to pine plantation establishment. For three species (the sugar glider Petaurus breviceps, the red necked wallaby Macropus rufogriseus and the swamp wallaby Wallabia bicolor) the response to plantation establishment was positive (i.e., increase in colonisation/patch use in sites surrounded by pine plantations) whereas the two possums (the common ringtail possum Pseudocheirus peregrinus and the common brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula) were positively affected by the amount of native tree cover surrounding sites, rather than pine plantation establishment.We foresee two strong implications of our work for the conservation of mammal species in agricultural areas subject to multiple land-use changes: 1) Our results suggest that converting agricultural land to pine plantations will not affect our target mammalian species negatively; rather, it may facilitate colonisation of remnant patches of native vegetation by some species. 2) Our findings underscore the critical importance of preserving remnant native vegetation within plantations, as it may decrease the risk of local extinction for some species or facilitate the colonisation of new sites for others. Thus, retention of patches of remnant native vegetation should be part of the design of future plantations

Modulation of ecosystem services by animal personalities

Conservationists rarely consider the roles individuals, with their own unique behavior, physiology, and genome, play in shaping ecosystem processes and consequently ecosystem services, but this is changing. An ongoing surge in research on animal personalities (that is, behavioral differences among individuals that are consistent over time and across contexts) is exposing the ecological roles of individuals to scientific scrutiny. Here, we present four broad examples of ecosystem services that are likely to be shaped by personalities: (1) pollination and seed dispersal, (2) regulation of pest species, (3) ecotourism, and (4) maintenance of soil quality. Although researchers have suggested diverse links between animal personality and ecosystem function, very few have examined this association. We outline a four-step process for quantifying and validating these linkages, leading to application for conservation practitioners, and conclude by recommending that accounting for behavioral variation should be incorporated into the management of ecosystem services

The vacant planting: limited influence of habitat restoration on patch colonization patterns by arboreal marsupials in south-eastern Australia

Many key questions remain unresolved about how biodiversity responds to temporal increases in native vegetation cover resulting from extensive restoration efforts. We quantified occupancy and colonization probability of old growth, regrowth and planted woodland patches by arboreal marsupials within Australian agricultural landscapes subject to woodland restoration over an 11 year period. Our analyses focussed on the Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) and Common Ringtail Possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus). We found strong evidence of a gradient in occupancy levels ranging from highest in old growth woodland, approaching zero in plantings, with regrowth woodland intermediate between these two broad types of vegetation structure. Plantings were not occupied by either species at the outset of our investigation and were rarely colonized throughout the subsequent 10 years. We hypothesize that a lack of shelter sites in large old hollow-bearing trees is one of the key factors limiting the occurrence of plantings by cavitydependent arboreal marsupials, suggesting a lag between planting establishment and the time required for plantings to become suitable habitat. We found the probability of colonization was positively related to the amount of vegetation cover in the surrounding landscape. Unexpectedly, colonization probability was not influenced by a temporal increase in woody vegetation cover surrounding a patch. A paucity of relationships between patch colonization and the temporal change in vegetation cover may be explained by the fact that most of the increased vegetation cover in our study landscapes over the past decade has resulted from establishment of plantings which are generally not suitable nesting habitat for arboreal marsupials. Our findings have key management implications such as emphasizing the value of old growth woodland for arboreal marsupials and of targeting restoration efforts around old growth and regrowth woodland patches, and the flawed notion of biodiversity offsets that allow replantings to compensate for clearing old growth woodland.Murray Local land Services, the Riverina Local Land Services, the Australian Research Council, and the Australian Government (National Environmental Science Program)

Population and individual-scale responses to patch size, isolation and quality in the hazel dormouse

Patch size, isolation and quality are key factors influencing species persistence in fragmented landscapes. However, we still lack a detailed understanding of how these variables exert their effects on populations inhabiting fragmented landscapes. At which ecological scale do they have an effect (e.g., individuals versus populations) and, on which demographic parameters? Answering these questions will identify the mechanisms that underlie population turnover rather than solely predicting it based on proxies (e.g., presence/absence data). We report the results of a large-scale, three-year study focused on the relative effects of patch size, isolation and quality on individuals and populations of an arboreal rodent, the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius). We examined 30 sites nested within three landscapes characterized by contrasting levels of habitat amount and habitat quality (food resources). We quantified the effects of patch size and quality on the response of individuals (survival and litter size) and populations (density and colonization/extinction dynamics). We identified demographic mechanisms which led to population turnover. Habitat quality positively affected survival (not litter size) and population density (measured through an index). We infer that the decline in survival due to patch quality reduced patch recolonization rather than increasing extinction, while extinction was mainly affected by patch size. Our findings suggest that the effect of patch quality on individual and population parameters was constrained by the physical structure of the surrounding landscapes. At the same time, our results highlight the importance of preserving habitat quality to help the persistence of entire systems of patches

SNAPSHOT USA 2019 : a coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the United States. For our first annual survey, we compiled data across all 50 states during a 14-week period (17 August - 24 November of 2019). We sampled wildlife at 1509 camera trap sites from 110 camera trap arrays covering 12 different ecoregions across four development zones. This effort resulted in 166,036 unique detections of 83 species of mammals and 17 species of birds. All images were processed through the Smithsonian's eMammal camera trap data repository and included an expert review phase to ensure taxonomic accuracy of data, resulting in each picture being reviewed at least twice. The results represent a timely and standardized camera trap survey of the USA. All of the 2019 survey data are made available herein. We are currently repeating surveys in fall 2020, opening up the opportunity to other institutions and cooperators to expand coverage of all the urban-wild gradients and ecophysiographic regions of the country. Future data will be available as the database is updated at eMammal.si.edu/snapshot-usa, as well as future data paper submissions. These data will be useful for local and macroecological research including the examination of community assembly, effects of environmental and anthropogenic landscape variables, effects of fragmentation and extinction debt dynamics, as well as species-specific population dynamics and conservation action plans. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this paper when using the data for publication.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

PATTERNS OF RODENT SPECIES ABUNDANCE AND DIVERSITY IN A KENYAN RELICT TROPICAL RAINFOREST

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