Consistent diel activity patterns of forest mammals among tropical regions

Andrea F. Vallejo-Vargas (), Douglas Sheil, Asunción Semper-Pascual, Lydia Beaudrot, Jorge A. Ahumada, Emmanuel Akampurira, Robert Bitariho, Santiago Espinosa, Vittoria Estienne, Patrick A. Jansen, Charles Kayijamahe, Emanuel H. Martin, Marcela Guimarães Moreira Lima, Badru Mugerwa, Francesco Rovero, Julia Salvador, Fernanda Santos, Wilson Roberto Spironello, Eustrate Uzabaho and Richard Bischof
Additional contact information
Andrea F. Vallejo-Vargas: Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Douglas Sheil: Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Asunción Semper-Pascual: Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Lydia Beaudrot: Rice University
Jorge A. Ahumada: Moore Center for Science, Conservation International
Emmanuel Akampurira: Ghent University
Robert Bitariho: Mbarara University of Science and Technology
Santiago Espinosa: Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí
Vittoria Estienne: Wildlife Conservation Society, Congo Program
Patrick A. Jansen: Wageningen University and Research
Charles Kayijamahe: International Gorilla Conservation Programme
Emanuel H. Martin: College of African Wildlife Management, Mweka, Department of Wildlife Management
Marcela Guimarães Moreira Lima: Laboratório de Biogeografia da Conservação e Macroecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará
Badru Mugerwa: Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Francesco Rovero: University of Florence
Julia Salvador: Wildlife Conservation Society Ecuador
Fernanda Santos: Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
Wilson Roberto Spironello: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia
Eustrate Uzabaho: International Gorilla Conservation Programme
Richard Bischof: Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract An animal’s daily use of time (their “diel activity”) reflects their adaptations, requirements, and interactions, yet we know little about the underlying processes governing diel activity within and among communities. Here we examine whether community-level activity patterns differ among biogeographic regions, and explore the roles of top-down versus bottom-up processes and thermoregulatory constraints. Using data from systematic camera-trap networks in 16 protected forests across the tropics, we examine the relationships of mammals’ diel activity to body mass and trophic guild. Also, we assess the activity relationships within and among guilds. Apart from Neotropical insectivores, guilds exhibited consistent cross-regional activity in relation to body mass. Results indicate that thermoregulation constrains herbivore and insectivore activity (e.g., larger Afrotropical herbivores are ~7 times more likely to be nocturnal than smaller herbivores), while bottom-up processes constrain the activity of carnivores in relation to herbivores, and top-down processes constrain the activity of small omnivores and insectivores in relation to large carnivores’ activity. Overall, diel activity of tropical mammal communities appears shaped by similar processes and constraints among regions reflecting body mass and trophic guilds.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34825-1 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-34825-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34825-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().