Comparative influence of anthropogenic landscape pressures on cause-specific mortality of mammals

Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation

Jerrold Belant¹  Travis DeVault²  Jacob Hill³ 

[1] Corresponding author.;Global Wildlife Conservation Center, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, United States;Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, United States;

关键词: Cause-Specific mortality;    Telemetry;    Conservation;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The Human Influence Index (HII) quantifies anthropogenic landscape pressures by combining eight measures of human influence: human population density, built environments, crop lands, pasture lands, lights, roads, railways and navigable waterways. The comparative influence of the HII components on cause-specific mammal mortality remains unexplored. Using a database of North American mammal cause-specific mortality, we compared the influence of these components on proportion of mammal mortality resulting from harvest, vehicle collision, predation, and overall anthropogenic mortality. Our dataset consisted of 487 studies that monitored the fates of 48,551 individuals across 70 species with 17,837 mortalities of known cause. For both adults and juveniles, human population density best explained proportion of mortality from anthropogenic causes and showed a positive relationship. Human population density also provided best model fit for adult harvest mortality at low HII values. Lights, built environments, and human population density explained similar variation in adult vehicle mortality, whereas human population density provided best fit for vehicle mortality of juveniles. Predation was negatively associated with human population density and provided best model fit for both age classes. Our work indicates that the effectiveness of conservation programs for North American mammals could be enhanced by reducing the negative consequences of human population density.

【 授权许可】

Unknown