Climate Change Data Portal
DOI | 10.1002/ece3.11151 |
Shifting mammal communities and declining species richness along an elevational gradient on Mount Kenya | |
Snider, Matthew H.; Helgen, Kristofer M.; Young, Hillary S.; Agwanda, Bernard; Schuttler, Stephanie; Titcomb, Georgia C.; Branch, Douglas; Dommain, Rene; Kays, Roland | |
发表日期 | 2024 |
ISSN | 2045-7758 |
起始页码 | 14 |
结束页码 | 4 |
卷号 | 14期号:4 |
英文摘要 | Conservation areas encompassing elevation gradients are biodiversity hotspots because they contain a wide range of habitat types in a relatively small space. Studies of biodiversity patterns along elevation gradients, mostly on small mammal or bird species, have documented a peak in diversity at mid elevations. Here, we report on a field study of medium and large mammals to examine the impact of elevation, habitat type, and gross primary productivity on community structure. Species richness was observed using a camera trap transect with 219 sites situated across different habitat types from 2329 to 4657 m above the sea level on the western slope of Mt Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa. We found that the lowest elevation natural habitats had the highest species richness and relative abundance and that both metrics decreased steadily as elevation increased, paralleling changes in gross primary productivity, and supporting the energy richness hypothesis. We found no evidence for the mid-domain effect on species diversity. The lowest elevation degraded Agro-Forestry lands adjacent to the National Park had high activity of domestic animals and reduced diversity and abundance of native species. The biggest difference in community structure was between protected and unprotected areas, followed by more subtle stepwise differences between habitats at different elevations. Large carnivore species remained relatively consistent but dominant herbivore species shifted along the elevation gradient. There was some habitat specialization and turnover in species, such that the elevation gradient predicts a high diversity of species, demonstrating the high conservation return for protecting mountain ecosystems for biodiversity conservation. Our study intensively surveyed the western slope of Mt Kenya using a camera trap array covering a 2300 m elevation gradient with 219 sites. We found that relative abundance and species richness decreased as gross primary productivity deceased and elevation increased.image |
英文关键词 | beta-diversity; energy richness hypothesis; habitat specialization; mid-domain effect; relative abundance; species richness |
语种 | 英语 |
WOS研究方向 | Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology |
WOS类目 | Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology |
WOS记录号 | WOS:001199069700001 |
来源期刊 | ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION |
文献类型 | 期刊论文 |
条目标识符 | http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/303379 |
作者单位 | North Carolina State University; Australian Museum; University of California System; University of California Santa Barbara; Colorado State University; University of West England; Nanyang Technological University; Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; North Carolina State University |
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Snider, Matthew H.,Helgen, Kristofer M.,Young, Hillary S.,et al. Shifting mammal communities and declining species richness along an elevational gradient on Mount Kenya[J],2024,14(4). |
APA | Snider, Matthew H..,Helgen, Kristofer M..,Young, Hillary S..,Agwanda, Bernard.,Schuttler, Stephanie.,...&Kays, Roland.(2024).Shifting mammal communities and declining species richness along an elevational gradient on Mount Kenya.ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION,14(4). |
MLA | Snider, Matthew H.,et al."Shifting mammal communities and declining species richness along an elevational gradient on Mount Kenya".ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION 14.4(2024). |
条目包含的文件 | 条目无相关文件。 |
除非特别说明,本系统中所有内容都受版权保护,并保留所有权利。