Ecological traits predict mammal temporal responses to land development but not human presence

Shifts in daily activity patterns are a key behavioral response of wildlife to human disturbance, with many mammals increasingly active at night. However, it remains unclear whether these nocturnal shifts are consistent across species or influenced by species-specific ecological and life-history tra...

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Main Authors: Mingzhang Liu, Fei Duan, Jiangyue Wang, Yidan Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-04-01
Series:Global Ecology and Conservation
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425001088
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author Mingzhang Liu
Fei Duan
Jiangyue Wang
Yidan Wang
author_facet Mingzhang Liu
Fei Duan
Jiangyue Wang
Yidan Wang
author_sort Mingzhang Liu
collection DOAJ
description Shifts in daily activity patterns are a key behavioral response of wildlife to human disturbance, with many mammals increasingly active at night. However, it remains unclear whether these nocturnal shifts are consistent across species or influenced by species-specific ecological and life-history traits. Using a large-scale camera trap dataset from 102 sites across the contiguous USA, we explored the relationship between the traits of 40 mammal species and their nocturnal shifts in response to land development and human presence. The results indicated that mammal communities generally increased nocturnal activity with higher levels of land development but showed a nearly neutral response to human presence. Larger species with greater space requirements and more flexible activity patterns exhibited stronger nocturnal shifts in response to land development. The nocturnal shifts in response to human presence, however, appeared random with respect to species traits. These findings highlight the temporal filter effect of land development, driving species with certain traits to adopt more nocturnal behaviors, while allowing others to remain their original activity patterns. This provides insights into the mechanisms through which human activities shape the daily behavior of mammalian communities.
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series Global Ecology and Conservation
spelling doaj-art-6b3bfa6cd779499298eb5aaca92e79b32025-08-20T03:15:16ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942025-04-0158e0350710.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03507Ecological traits predict mammal temporal responses to land development but not human presenceMingzhang Liu0Fei Duan1Jiangyue Wang2Yidan Wang3Natural History Museum of China, Beijing 100050, China; Correspondence to: Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum of China, No.126 Tianqiaonan Avenue, Beijing 100050, China.Natural History Museum of China, Beijing 100050, ChinaQuantitative Ecology and Resource Management, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USAState Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Institute of Ecology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaShifts in daily activity patterns are a key behavioral response of wildlife to human disturbance, with many mammals increasingly active at night. However, it remains unclear whether these nocturnal shifts are consistent across species or influenced by species-specific ecological and life-history traits. Using a large-scale camera trap dataset from 102 sites across the contiguous USA, we explored the relationship between the traits of 40 mammal species and their nocturnal shifts in response to land development and human presence. The results indicated that mammal communities generally increased nocturnal activity with higher levels of land development but showed a nearly neutral response to human presence. Larger species with greater space requirements and more flexible activity patterns exhibited stronger nocturnal shifts in response to land development. The nocturnal shifts in response to human presence, however, appeared random with respect to species traits. These findings highlight the temporal filter effect of land development, driving species with certain traits to adopt more nocturnal behaviors, while allowing others to remain their original activity patterns. This provides insights into the mechanisms through which human activities shape the daily behavior of mammalian communities.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425001088Camera trapHuman activityBehavioral responseNocturnal activityEcological and life-history trait
spellingShingle Mingzhang Liu
Fei Duan
Jiangyue Wang
Yidan Wang
Ecological traits predict mammal temporal responses to land development but not human presence
Global Ecology and Conservation
Camera trap
Human activity
Behavioral response
Nocturnal activity
Ecological and life-history trait
title Ecological traits predict mammal temporal responses to land development but not human presence
title_full Ecological traits predict mammal temporal responses to land development but not human presence
title_fullStr Ecological traits predict mammal temporal responses to land development but not human presence
title_full_unstemmed Ecological traits predict mammal temporal responses to land development but not human presence
title_short Ecological traits predict mammal temporal responses to land development but not human presence
title_sort ecological traits predict mammal temporal responses to land development but not human presence
topic Camera trap
Human activity
Behavioral response
Nocturnal activity
Ecological and life-history trait
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425001088
work_keys_str_mv AT mingzhangliu ecologicaltraitspredictmammaltemporalresponsestolanddevelopmentbutnothumanpresence
AT feiduan ecologicaltraitspredictmammaltemporalresponsestolanddevelopmentbutnothumanpresence
AT jiangyuewang ecologicaltraitspredictmammaltemporalresponsestolanddevelopmentbutnothumanpresence
AT yidanwang ecologicaltraitspredictmammaltemporalresponsestolanddevelopmentbutnothumanpresence