Spatial and Abiotic Effects of Urbanization on Small Mammal Communities
Disciplines
Integrative Biology | Population Biology | Zoology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Urbanization is known to decrease the richness and abundance of native wildlife populations, fragment natural areas, and increase human and human-commensal animal interactions with wildlife. Dynamics of species persistence in habitat fragments is often understood in the framework of island biogeography theory (IBT), with habitat fragments being analogous to oceanic islands. However, urban environments present different challenges to dispersal and persistence than literal oceanic islands, so the applicability of IBT to urban ecology is unclear. We investigated how small mammal communities respond to spatial and environmental factors associated with urbanization. These communities are important to consider in urban fragments because of their roles as prey animals, seed dispersers, and their potential to transmit viruses and parasites to humans and human-commensal animals. We trapped small mammals at 23 sites along an urban-to-rural gradient centered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA from May-August 2023. Sites were characterized by in situ environmental conditions such as temperature, ambient light, vegetation, and sound; additionally, we obtained landscape-level data on human population, land use, and socioeconomic variables from public databases. We integrated these data using geographic information systems (GIS) and modeled species richness and other community metrics using generalized linear models. Preliminary analyses suggest that small mammal diversity is affected by human population and landscape characteristics at multiple spatial scales. Generally, community diversity decreases with increasing non-forested land cover at all spatial scales; however, the response to human population and other indicators of urbanization varied by spatial scale. Future analyses will clarify the effects of different landscape variables.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
CSM - Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Nicholas Green
Spatial and Abiotic Effects of Urbanization on Small Mammal Communities
Urbanization is known to decrease the richness and abundance of native wildlife populations, fragment natural areas, and increase human and human-commensal animal interactions with wildlife. Dynamics of species persistence in habitat fragments is often understood in the framework of island biogeography theory (IBT), with habitat fragments being analogous to oceanic islands. However, urban environments present different challenges to dispersal and persistence than literal oceanic islands, so the applicability of IBT to urban ecology is unclear. We investigated how small mammal communities respond to spatial and environmental factors associated with urbanization. These communities are important to consider in urban fragments because of their roles as prey animals, seed dispersers, and their potential to transmit viruses and parasites to humans and human-commensal animals. We trapped small mammals at 23 sites along an urban-to-rural gradient centered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA from May-August 2023. Sites were characterized by in situ environmental conditions such as temperature, ambient light, vegetation, and sound; additionally, we obtained landscape-level data on human population, land use, and socioeconomic variables from public databases. We integrated these data using geographic information systems (GIS) and modeled species richness and other community metrics using generalized linear models. Preliminary analyses suggest that small mammal diversity is affected by human population and landscape characteristics at multiple spatial scales. Generally, community diversity decreases with increasing non-forested land cover at all spatial scales; however, the response to human population and other indicators of urbanization varied by spatial scale. Future analyses will clarify the effects of different landscape variables.