A B S T R A C TAim To examine the distributional patterns of vertebrates (including birds, bats, carnivores and lagomorphs) along landscape composition and configuration gradients to better understand the effects of landscape modification on occurrence patterns at both species and community level.Location The region of Alentejo, a forest-dominated area of southern Portugal.Methods The study area was framed using 1647 hexagonal plots, each of 259 ha in size. Composition and configuration gradients were obtained for each plot by integrating the proportions of the main land cover types and their configuration patterns using multivariate analyses. Species-specific vertebrate responses were investigated using data from 75 plots in which carnivores, bats and lagomorphs were sampled, and from 135 plots in the case of birds. Community-level responses were investigated through changes in species richness and beta-diversity in 57 plots where all vertebrate groups were simultaneously sampled. At the species-level, an information-theoretic approach was used to determine the effects of landscape gradients on species' responses. At the community level, Mantel tests were used to determine between-plot differences in species composition using the Sørensen dissimilarity index.Results We found that the occurrence patterns of most vertebrate species were best predicted by composition-related gradients, although configuration gradients were also frequently included in species-specific occurrence models. We also found a weak correlation between species richness and most landscape gradients suggesting a turnover in the identity of species, something that was corroborated by the stronger correlation between environmental gradients and beta-diversity measures. The amount of forest cover and landscape complexity (estimated as the heterogeneity in the size and number of land cover types) were the main composition and configuration gradients determining vertebrate responses at both species and community level.Main conclusions Our work contributes to a more refined understanding of the mechanisms underlying species distributional patterns in real-world human-modified landscapes. By uncovering generalities of species with multiple ecological requirements and by describing the entire landscape mosaic through landscape gradients, we also suggest that our work greatly helps to fill the gap between existing conceptual landscape models aimed to understand species distributional patterns in human-modified landscapes.
The European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, a keystone species of Mediterranean ecosystems, is the target of several recovery and management plans throughout the Iberian Peninsula. The majority of these plans are limited in time by budget constraints and lack postintervention monitoring of population trends. This study was conducted in south-west Portugal and aimed to understand the effect of habitat management and its early cessation on rabbit populations. We assessed rabbit presence and relative abundance before management (2007), during the implementation of measures (2008), immediately after (2009) and 3 years after measures ended (2012). We applied a model selection approach, using generalized linear models to determine the relative importance of MANAGED and UNMANAGED habitat features on rabbit presence in each year. We used spatial eigenvector mapping to describe the spatial autocorrelation in rabbit presence and a variation partitioning approach to quantify the relative effects of management-related variables, unmanaged environmental descriptors and spatial characteristics on rabbit presence. Rabbit presence and abundance increased shortly after the management intervention but decreased 3 years after. Rabbit presence was positively related to the proximity of installed crops and the existence of favorable soils for digging. Habitat management-related variables explained most of the variation in all models. Habitat improvement actions, particularly the sowing of pastures, contributed to increased rabbit presence. We propose a continued long-term intervention and the cultivation of crops with auto-regeneration properties (e.g., subterranean clover-Trifolium subterraneum) with the aim of continuing to increase rabbit presence and abundance in areas where rabbit populations are scarce. K E Y W O R D Shabitat management, long-term effectiveness, Mediterranean landscape, rabbit presence, variation partitioning
Mammals are threatened worldwide, with ~26% of all species being included in the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associated with habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mammals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion for marine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems functionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is crucial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublished georeferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mammals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira that includes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occurring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live observations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%), bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent less than 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrows | soil mounds | tunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animal | hair | skulls | jaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8), observation in shelters, (9) photo trapping | video, (10) predators diet | pellets | pine cones/nuts, (11) scat | track | ditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalization | echolocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and 100 m (76%). Rodentia (n =31,573) has the highest number of records followed by Chiroptera (n = 18,857), Carnivora (n = 18,594), Lagomorpha (n = 17,496), Cetartiodactyla (n = 11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n = 7008). The data set includes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened (e.g., Oryctolagus cuniculus [n = 12,159], Monachus monachus [n = 1,512], and Lynx pardinus [n = 197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate the publication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contribute to ecology and conservation‐related research, and therefore assisting on the development of more accurate and tailored conservation management strategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications.
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