Effects of human disturbances on wildlife behaviour and consequences for predator-prey overlap in Southeast Asia.

ABSTRACT: Some animal species shift their activity towards increased nocturnality in disturbed habitats to avoid predominantly diurnal humans. This may alter diel overlap among species, a precondition to most predation and competition interactions that structure food webs. Here, using camera trap data from 10 tropical forest landscapes, we find that hyperdiverse Southeast Asian wildlife communities shift their peak activity from early mornings in intact habitats towards dawn and dusk in disturbed habitats (increased crepuscularity). Our results indicate that anthropogenic disturbances drive opposing behavioural adaptations based on rarity, size and feeding guild, with more nocturnality among the 59 rarer specialists' species, more diurnality for medium-sized generalists, and less diurnality for larg

SUBMITTER: Lee SXT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10876642 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature