Mammal ReviewPub Date : 2024-07-30DOI: 10.1111/mam.12374
Ángel C. Domínguez‐García, Adrián Álvarez‐Vena, César Laplana, Paloma Sevilla, Jacinto Román, Josep Francesc Bisbal‐Chinesta, Javier Calzada, M. Ángeles Galindo‐Pellicena, Luis Benítez De Lugo Enrich
{"title":"Holocene biogeography of the southwestern European white‐toothed shrew (Crocidura iculisma, Eulipotyphla) through its fossil record","authors":"Ángel C. Domínguez‐García, Adrián Álvarez‐Vena, César Laplana, Paloma Sevilla, Jacinto Román, Josep Francesc Bisbal‐Chinesta, Javier Calzada, M. Ángeles Galindo‐Pellicena, Luis Benítez De Lugo Enrich","doi":"10.1111/mam.12374","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12374","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item><jats:italic>Crocidura iculisma</jats:italic> (=<jats:italic>C</jats:italic>. <jats:italic>suaveolens</jats:italic>) is a shrew (Soricidae, Eulipotyphla) showing a fragmented distribution limited to the Iberian Peninsula, southern and western France and northwestern Italy. Although it has been in the Iberian Peninsula since the Middle Pleistocene, its biogeographical history remains poorly known.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Here, we provide new data on <jats:italic>Crocidura iculisma</jats:italic> from the Castillejo del Bonete site (southern Spain) dated as 3.8–3.6 cal kyr BP. At the same time, we analyse changes in its geographic distribution based on its palaeontological record.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We have reviewed thoroughly the Holocene record of <jats:italic>Crocidura iculisma</jats:italic> in southwestern Europe, considering independently the three time intervals according to the stages defined for this geological time series (Greenlandian, Northgrippian and Meghalayan). Whenever found together in fossil sites, the relative abundance of the two sympatric shrews of the genus <jats:italic>Crocidura</jats:italic> (<jats:italic>Crocidura russula</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Crocidura iculisma</jats:italic>) was analysed. The data obtained concerning past distribution range and relative abundance were compared with the current status of the species in Iberia to interpret changes through time.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>The distribution range of the southwestern European white‐toothed shrew in the Iberian Peninsula has notably reduced over time until today. The occurrence at Castillejo del Bonete and other palaeontological records located beyond its current distribution range show that it was distributed in several areas of the eastern part and southern interior of Iberia, at least until the second half of the Meghalayan. Relative abundance patterns observed in the fossil assemblages suggest that competitive exclusion by <jats:italic>Crocidura russula</jats:italic> and climatic changes played a crucial role in driving the extirpation of <jats:italic>Crocidura iculisma</jats:italic> from a substantial portion of the Iberian Peninsula.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":49893,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141868406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mammal ReviewPub Date : 2024-07-24DOI: 10.1111/mam.12375
Andrea Sforzi, Laura Viviani
{"title":"Use of lure sticks for non‐invasive genetic sampling of European wildcat populations: lessons learnt and hints for future insights","authors":"Andrea Sforzi, Laura Viviani","doi":"10.1111/mam.12375","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12375","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Non‐invasive genetic sampling is an increasingly common approach in wildlife research. It allows the gathering of first‐hand data on wild mammalian populations without capturing or handling individuals. For this reason, it has proved to be particularly useful when applied to elusive species living at low population densities and/or hard to identify in the field.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>The European wildcat represents an interesting case study in this respect.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Several papers have been produced in the last decades, in which non‐invasive genetic sampling has been applied. Nevertheless, evidence from different case studies presents a complex scenario, where the efficiency of the method can vary considerably.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>This paper aimed to analyse possible interpretations of such differences and to identify potential drivers and barriers. 20 papers on the subject have been reviewed and compared, although differences in several details reported in the examined papers limited an in‐depth comparison.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>The review showed that the overlap of the study period with the reproductive season does not affect the final results of lure stick hair sampling research on the European wildcat. Moreover, valerian lure sticks generally provided positive results in the Continental ecoregion, whereas, in the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions, outcomes were absent or very scarce.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Most of the other working hypotheses remain still plausible, despite not yet being definitely provable. Setting up future wildcat monitoring schemes based on effective non‐invasive genetic sampling in different biogeographical regions of Europe is certainly a scope to be pursued.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Some suggestions are provided in this respect (e.g. the set of parameters needed to allow further comparisons; the need to test other types of attractants, to make the application of the method possible where the use of valerian was proven to be inefficient or scarcely efficient, in order to allow a better comparison of future results).</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":49893,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141778392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mammal ReviewPub Date : 2024-07-22DOI: 10.1111/mam.12376
Alberto Astiazarán‐Azcárraga, Christian Alejandro Delfín‐Alfonso, Andrés Lira‐Noriega, David A. Prieto‐Torres, Sonia Gallina‐Tessaro
{"title":"Neotropical non‐primate canopy mammals: historical trends, omissions, and geographic gaps in the knowledge","authors":"Alberto Astiazarán‐Azcárraga, Christian Alejandro Delfín‐Alfonso, Andrés Lira‐Noriega, David A. Prieto‐Torres, Sonia Gallina‐Tessaro","doi":"10.1111/mam.12376","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12376","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Canopy mammals constitute a diverse and widely distributed group. However, these species have not been widely studied, and there are currently many gaps in our knowledge of their ecology, behaviour, distribution, and conservation status.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We identified crucial trends and omissions in terms of research effort on research themes, taxonomic groups, countries, and protected areas (PAs) and geographic information biases.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>A systematic review was conducted by consulting two electronic databases (Web of Science and Scopus), including research conducted within neotropical countries (from central Mexico to northern Argentina) until the end of the first half of 2021. All the references obtained were reviewed and categorised, and the geographical location of each study was extracted to evaluate geographical gaps.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We found that two orders (Carnivora and Didelphimorphia) and three families (Didelphidae, Felidae, and Cricetidae) were the most studied taxa, and were featured in more than 50% of cases. Brazil had the highest number of studies. Topics concerning diseases (19% of cases), distribution (14%), and ecology (14%) were the most frequently addressed; only 4.6% of the studies focused on anthropogenic disturbances, and less than 30% of the studies were conducted within PAs.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We found that one of the largest and most important geographical biases in knowledge was in the northern Amazon region, where the number of studies was low or null.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>This study lays the groundwork for future research on these understudied mammals, to develop better research that can allow us to design more appropriate conservation strategies.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":49893,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141778535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mammal ReviewPub Date : 2024-06-27DOI: 10.1111/mam.12373
Przemysław Kurek, Blanka Wiatrowska, Agnieszka Ważna, Hans Vink
{"title":"Setts of European badger Meles meles in open habitats: trend or exception?","authors":"Przemysław Kurek, Blanka Wiatrowska, Agnieszka Ważna, Hans Vink","doi":"10.1111/mam.12373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12373","url":null,"abstract":"Reports on the location of badger setts generally focussed on woodland habitats and paid little attention to open areas. There was a negative correlation between the number of setts in open landscape and the proportion of forest cover with an inflection point at 25–35%. A higher proportion of badger setts in open habitats is observed when forest cover is below the inflection point. The location of setts in the open landscape results from the dominance of these habitats and the low availability of woodland and that is a permanent aspect of badger behaviour and not a short‐term trend.","PeriodicalId":49893,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141507348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Understanding causes of morbidity and mortality in Southern Hemisphere small Odontoceti: a scoping review","authors":"Rebecca Souter, Anne‐Lise Chaber, Luciana Möller, Lucy Woolford","doi":"10.1111/mam.12371","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12371","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Marine mammals serve as sentinels for environmental health, offering insights into ecosystem health. Enhancing management and conservation strategies for these species requires a comprehensive understanding of factors contributing to their morbidity and mortality.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>This review aims to identify reported causes of morbidity and mortality in small Odontoceti within the Southern Hemisphere.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>A scoping review of literature was conducted, searching Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science, with additional screening of citations for articles not captured in the search.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>The review encompassed 198 articles, with a total sample size of 25567 deceased small Odontoceti across 20 genera. A major challenge emerged, with the cause of death undetermined or unspecified in 39% of cases. Known entanglements accounted for 47% of total mortalities. Mass strandings (11%) and infectious disease (1.1%) were also reported. The study identified 14 primary infectious pathogens in 276 animals, spanning viral (CeMV = 214, H5N1 = 1), bacterial (<jats:italic>Brucella</jats:italic> sp. = 15, <jats:italic>Erysipelothrix</jats:italic> sp. = 1, <jats:italic>Streptococcus iniae</jats:italic> = 1, <jats:italic>Enterobacter kobei</jats:italic> = 1), parasitic (<jats:italic>Toxoplasma gondii</jats:italic> = 15, <jats:italic>Halocercus</jats:italic> sp. = 17, <jats:italic>Clistobothrium grimaldii</jats:italic> = 1, <jats:italic>Stenurus globicephalae</jats:italic> = 1, <jats:italic>Giardia</jats:italic> sp. = 1), and fungal (<jats:italic>Aspergillus</jats:italic> sp. = 2, <jats:italic>Paracoccidioides brasiliensis</jats:italic> = 5, <jats:italic>Cryptococcus</jats:italic> sp. = 1) origins.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Anthropogenic‐induced mortality emerges as a significant threat to small Odontoceti of the Southern Hemisphere, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced conservation and management strategies. Increased surveillance of infectious pathogens is imperative, aiming to deepen our understanding of pathogen distribution, prevalence, and impact on Odontoceti health.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":49893,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141523961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mammal ReviewPub Date : 2024-06-27DOI: 10.1111/mam.12372
Perla D. Ventura‐Rojas, Alberto González‐Romero, Claudia E. Moreno, Vinicio J. Sosa
{"title":"Effect of rainfall, temperature and climate change on the ecology of the rodents of arid zones: a review","authors":"Perla D. Ventura‐Rojas, Alberto González‐Romero, Claudia E. Moreno, Vinicio J. Sosa","doi":"10.1111/mam.12372","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12372","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Rodents are one of the most abundant and diverse groups of mammals in arid zones. Their population and community dynamics are closely linked to climatic factors and pulses of primary productivity activation. In the future, climatic conditions in arid ecosystems could become more extreme as a consequence of climate change, which could affect the species that inhabit these regions.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>In this paper, we review the literature on the ecological response of rodents in the world's arid zones, at the population and community levels, to climatological factors (temperature and precipitation), climatic events and the possible impact of climate change.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We used the PRISMA protocol to systematically search the literature, and the “vote‐counting” method to count positive, null or negative responses of the rodents.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>At the population level, rodent density and abundance responded positively to precipitation, while biomass responded negatively and reproduction responded positively to increasing temperature. At the community level, rodent density, biomass and diversity increased after rainfall. El Niño events were positively related to rodent population increases. In contrast, intense storms affected the survival of some species.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Rodents with physiological adaptations suited to living in arid areas, for example, the heteromyids, responded positively to precipitation and could suffer fewer negative ecological consequences in the future when exposed to increased temperature and changes in precipitation.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":49893,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141529525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mammal ReviewPub Date : 2024-06-14DOI: 10.1111/mam.12369
Melissa B. Meierhofer, Elena Tena, Thomas M. Lilley, Dina K. N. Dechmann, Christian C. Voigt, Tanya S. Troitsky, Luc de Bruyn, Elizabeth Braun de Torrez, Katrine Eldegard, Morten Elmeros, Ralf Gyselings, Dillan Hoyt, René Janssen, Kristin A. Jonasson, Adrià López‐Baucells, Mariia Matlova, Markus Melber, Santiago Perea, Laura Stidsholt, Valeria Valanne, Mebin George Varghese, Giorgio Zavattoni, Theodore J. Weller
{"title":"Re‐weighing the 5% tagging recommendation: assessing the potential impacts of tags on the behaviour and body condition of bats","authors":"Melissa B. Meierhofer, Elena Tena, Thomas M. Lilley, Dina K. N. Dechmann, Christian C. Voigt, Tanya S. Troitsky, Luc de Bruyn, Elizabeth Braun de Torrez, Katrine Eldegard, Morten Elmeros, Ralf Gyselings, Dillan Hoyt, René Janssen, Kristin A. Jonasson, Adrià López‐Baucells, Mariia Matlova, Markus Melber, Santiago Perea, Laura Stidsholt, Valeria Valanne, Mebin George Varghese, Giorgio Zavattoni, Theodore J. Weller","doi":"10.1111/mam.12369","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12369","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000\u0000Considerable advances and breakthroughs in wildlife tracking technology have occurred in recent years, allowing researchers to gain insights into the movements and behaviours of a broad range of animals. Considering the accessibility and increase in use of tracking devices in wildlife studies, it is important to better understand the effects on these on animals.\u0000\u0000Our endeavour revisits a guideline established in 1988, which proposes that bats may encounter body condition or health problems and alter their behaviour when carrying tags weighing more than 5% of their body mass. Through a systematic literature review, we conducted a meta‐analysis to identify the impacts of tags on bats, including 367 papers from 1976 to 2023 that discussed, mentioned, employed, or quantified tagging of bats.\u0000\u0000We noted that the proportion of studies exceeding the 5% rule has not changed in recent years. However, the impact of tags was quantified in few studies for behaviour (n = 7) and body condition (n = 10) of bats. We were unable to assess whether tags weighing less or more than 5% of the bat's body mass impacted bats, but our meta‐analysis did identify that tags, irrespective of mass, affect the behaviour and body condition of bats.\u0000\u0000Although the overall magnitude of measured effects of tags on bats was small, progress has been made to advance our understanding of tag mass on bats. Naturally, there is a bias in reporting of significant results, illustrating the need of reporting results when there is no apparent effect of tags on bats. Our findings highlight the need for rigorous reporting of behaviour and body condition data associated with tagging of animals and illustrate the importance for studies comparing how tracking devices of different dimensions and masses may impact bat species to ensure research meets rigorous ethical standards.\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":49893,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141339927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mammal ReviewPub Date : 2024-06-06DOI: 10.1111/mam.12368
{"title":"Correction to ‘Critical variables and their thresholds for the precise density estimation of wild felids with camera traps and spatial capture-recapture (SCR) methods’","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/mam.12368","DOIUrl":"10.1111/mam.12368","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Palmero S, Premier J, Kramer-Schadt S, Monterroso P, Heurich M (2023) Sampling variables and their thresholds for the precise estimation of wild felid population density with camera traps and spatial capture–recapture methods. <i>Mammal Review</i>, 53, 223–237. https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12320</p><p>In paragraph 6 of the ‘Discussion’ session, the text ‘Our results indicated that Bayesian methods performed better than MLE. This finding is consistent with Royle et al. (2009), who demonstrated that Bayesian methods cope better with small sample sizes. Considering that large sample sizes are often hard to achieve, Bayesian methods are generally preferable, and many R packages are available to support the methods, for example Royle et al. (2014), which provides several coding examples’ was incorrect because we drew wrong conclusions on the comparison between the two methods.</p><p>This should read ’Our results indicated that Bayesian methods performed better than MLE. This finding is consistent with Royle et al. (2009), who demonstrated that Bayesian methods cope better with small sample sizes. However, it needs to be taken into account that the two approaches model the number of individuals observed differently, that is a Poisson and binomial distribution is used for the MLE and Bayesian methods, respectively. Additionally, Bayesian methods use priors in the model. Therefore, conclusions on the performance of the two methods cannot be fairly drawn’.</p><p>We apologise for this error.</p>","PeriodicalId":49893,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2024-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mam.12368","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141380421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mammal ReviewPub Date : 2024-06-06DOI: 10.1111/mam.12366
Gabriel M. Martin, A. P. Carmignotto
{"title":"Taxonomic assessment, conservation status, and future perspectives for New World Marsupials","authors":"Gabriel M. Martin, A. P. Carmignotto","doi":"10.1111/mam.12366","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12366","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000\u0000New World Marsupials (NWMs) comprise over 135 species ranging from Patagonia (Argentina) to northern North America, classified within the orders Didelphimorphia, Microbiotheria and Paucituberculata.\u0000\u0000This study examines recent taxonomic revisions and conservation priorities for NWMs, based on the IUCN Red List assessments and current literature.\u0000\u0000NWMs are included in the following IUCN Red List categories: 2 (1.5%) Critically Endangered (CR), 9 (6.6%) Vulnerable (VU), 7 (5.1%) Near Threatened (NT), 15 (11%) Data Deficient (DD), and 72 (53%) Least Concern (LC), with 32 (23%) species awaiting formal assessments.\u0000\u0000Population trends remain unknown for more than half of the 137 species (n = 82; 60%), with 34 stable species (25%), 30 declining (22%), and only three showing increasing trends (2.2%). Of the 105 IUCN assessed species, 45 (43%) have unknown population trends.\u0000\u0000Identified threats for assessed species (n = 32) include ecosystem conversion and degradation as the main threats, with habitat loss through fragmentation and/or land conversion potentially affecting 26 additional species. When analysed in detail with the proposed classification ‘Habitat loss, fragmentation, and conversion’ were identified as the main threat to 61 species.\u0000\u0000Research needs were identified for 85 species (62%), across five categories: Taxonomy (9 species), Life History and Ecology (75 species), Population size, Distribution and Trends (80 species), Threats (78 species), and Actions (2 species).\u0000\u0000We propose four key steps to enhance the conservation of NWMs: 1) update assessments to include all valid species, 2) identify priority areas for NWM conservation, 3) encourage research collaboration, and 4) integrate data into conservation strategies at various spatial and political scales.\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":49893,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141381704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mammal ReviewPub Date : 2024-06-01DOI: 10.1111/mam.12358
Sarah Tossens, Marine Drouilly, Simon Lhoest, Cédric Vermeulen, Jean‐Louis Doucet
{"title":"Wild felids in trophic cascades: a global review","authors":"Sarah Tossens, Marine Drouilly, Simon Lhoest, Cédric Vermeulen, Jean‐Louis Doucet","doi":"10.1111/mam.12358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12358","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:list> <jats:list-item>Carnivores, often identified as keystone species, can influence prey and subordinate carnivores through density‐ and behaviourally mediated pathways. Although the magnitude of their impacts remains debated, carnivores may trigger successional direct and indirect ecological effects on lower trophic levels in specific contexts, commonly known as trophic cascades. Felids, as ambush predators, have great potential to impact food webs. Yet, their influence on ecosystem dynamics remains understudied.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>This global comprehensive literature review aimed to assess evidence for felids' ecological roles in trophic cascades across both natural and human‐dominated ecosystems.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>We found 61 publications that studied the influence of 18 felid species in trophic cascades. Research exhibited taxonomic and geographic biases, favouring big cats, temperate regions and biomes, as well as tropical moist forests in Central and South America. Of the studies, 23% (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 14) were experimental, while 77% were observational or correlative. Among the latter, 60% tested at least one alternative hypothesis and 47% examined bottom‐up processes.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>Despite varying levels of inference, 80% of studies provide information consistent with trophic cascades involving felids. Their examination confirmed wild cats' ability to induce density‐ and behaviourally mediated trophic cascades, thereby influencing critical biotic and abiotic processes, including mesopredator control, functional diversity maintenance, and carbon storage. The magnitude of these effects may be altered in human‐dominated landscapes, although current research effort remains too limited to draw conclusions.</jats:list-item> <jats:list-item>In conclusion, felids may act as drivers of ecosystem change, and acknowledging their ecological roles can aid in promoting their conservation. However, we encourage more strongly inferential and comprehensive investigations into felid‐mediated trophic cascades, prioritising research on small cats, felids in Asia and Africa, and the impacts of humans on trophic cascades, which can help to better inform conservation interventions and perspectives.</jats:list-item> </jats:list>","PeriodicalId":49893,"journal":{"name":"Mammal Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141195479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}