Combining local ecological knowledge with camera traps to assess the link between African mammal life‐history traits and their occurrence in anthropogenic landscapes

Understanding what influences species and trait composition is critical for predicting changes in communities driven by landscape transformation. We explored how life‐history traits are associated with the persistence of mammal species in human‐dominated habitats within the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve, South Africa. We combined data from a camera trap study and a local ecological knowledge‐based survey in an integrated occupancy model to analyse species occurrence along a gradient of anthropogenic landscape transformation. Results confirmed that mammal occurrence in human‐modified habitats was related to specific life‐history traits. Species with more specialist diets, as well as larger body mass species were more likely to stay in protected areas. Species with slow reproductive strategies occupied more natural areas. Combining different monitoring methods enabled us to increase spatial coverage and mammal sighting numbers. This approach fostered research participation by various stakeholders, an important step for co‐designing wildlife‐friendly anthropogenic spaces. Synthesis and applications. Integrating data from a standard ecological protocol and structured participatory citizen knowledge allowed us to identify the species functional traits associated with mammal species occurrence in anthropogenic landscapes at a local scale. These results advocate for wisely combining methods and will guide conservation‐orientated land‐use planning towards the protection of natural habitats in the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve. This methodological approach will enable managers and conservationists to use data obtained from diverse protocols and should catalyse the involvement of citizens in biodiversity monitoring and conservation.

• Publication year

  2024

• Venue

  Journal of Applied Ecology

• Publication date

  2024-09-03

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/1365-2664.14742
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• A local ecological knowledge-based assessment of anthropodependence for large mammals in anthropogenic landscapes

  2024cited by this paper
• Comparing local ecological knowledge with camera trap data to study mammal occurrence in anthropogenic landscapes of the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve

  2024cited by this paper
• The influence of human activity on predator-prey spatiotemporal overlap.

  2023cited by this paper
• Height-related detection bias in camera trap surveys: Insights for combining data sets

  2023cited by this paper
• Building a resilient coexistence with wildlife in a more crowded world

  2023cited by this paper
• Less bins, less baboons: reducing access to anthropogenic food effectively decreases the urban foraging behavior of a troop of chacma baboons (Papio hamadryas ursinus) in a peri-urban area

  2022cited by this paper
• Interweaving local, expert, and Indigenous knowledge into quantitative wildlife analyses: A systematic review

  2022cited by this paper
• Functional connectivity of the world’s protected areas

  2022cited by this paper
• Spatiotemporal interactions of a novel mesocarnivore community in an urban environment before and during SARS‐CoV‐2 lockdown

  2021cited by this paper
• Social Effectiveness and Human-Wildlife Conflict: Linking the Ecological Effectiveness and Social Acceptability of Livestock Protection Tools

  2021cited by this paper
• Disturbance type and species life history predict mammal responses to humans

  2021cited by this paper
• Assessing different methods for measuring mammal diversity in two southern African arid ecosystems

  2021cited by this paper
• Snapshot Safari: a large-scale collaborative to monitor Africa’s remarkable biodiversity

  2021cited by this paper
• A Framework for the Eltonian Niche of Humans

  2021cited by this paper
• Modification of the third phase in the framework for vertebrate species persistence in urban mosaic environments

  2021cited by this paper
• Integrate biodiversity targets from local to global levels

  2021cited by this paper
• Levels of conflict over wildlife: Understanding and addressing the right problem

  2020cited by this paper
• Human disturbance has contrasting effects on niche partitioning within carnivore communities

  2020cited by this paper
• ggplot2

  2019cited by this paper
• The cognition of ‘nuisance’ species

  2019cited by this paper
• And Then There was One: A Camera Trap Survey of the Declining Population of African Elephants in Knysna, South Africa

  2019cited by this paper
• Land‐sharing/‐sparing connectivity landscapes for ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation

  2019cited by this paper
• Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements

  2018cited by this paper
• Novel predation opportunities in anthropogenic landscapes

  2018cited by this paper
• Widespread winners and narrow-ranged losers: Land use homogenizes biodiversity in local assemblages worldwide

  2018cited by this paper
• One strategy does not fit all: determinants of urban adaptation in mammals

  2018cited by this paper
• An Ecological and Evolutionary Framework for Commensalism in Anthropogenic Environments.

  2016cited by this paper
• Co-Adaptation Is Key to Coexisting with Large Carnivores.

  2016cited by this paper
• Sixteen years of change in the global terrestrial human footprint and implications for biodiversity conservation

  2016cited by this paper
• Integrating occurrence and detectability patterns based on interview data: a case study for threatened mammals in Equatorial Guinea

  2016cited by this paper
• Mesopredator spatial and temporal responses to large predators and human development in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California

  2015cited by this paper
• Key factors driving attitudes towards large mammals in conflict with humans

  2014cited by this paper
• Tolerance for Predatory Wildlife

  2014cited by this paper
• EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals

  2014cited by this paper
• Indigenous Knowledge and Science Unite to Reveal Spatial and Temporal Dimensions of Distributional Shift in Wildlife of Conservation Concern

  2014cited by this paper
• Big Cats in Our Backyards: Persistence of Large Carnivores in a Human Dominated Landscape in India

  2013cited by this paper
• Generation length for mammals

  2013cited by this paper
• Landscape requirements of a primate population in a human-dominated environment

  2012cited by this paper
• Combining farmers’ decision rules and landscape stochastic regularities for landscape modelling

  2011cited by this paper
• Creating multifunctional landscapes: how can the field of ecology inform the design of the landscape?

  2009cited by this paper
• PanTHERIA: a species‐level database of life history, ecology, and geography of extant and recently extinct mammals

  2009cited by this paper
• The relative importance of large mammal species for tourism in Amboseli National Park, Kenya.

  2008cited by this paper
• Global Change and the Ecology of Cities

  2008cited by this paper
• Fear, human shields and the redistribution of prey and predators in protected areas

  2007cited by this paper
• The ade4 Package: Implementing the Duality Diagram for Ecologists

  2007cited by this paper
• Adaptations of animals to commensal habitats: population dynamics of house mice Mus musculus domesticus on farms

  2004cited by this paper

• Biodiversity beyond protected areas: Mammal responses to land-use and vegetation in a semi-arid mixed-use landscape

  2026cites this paper
• The Human Shield Hypothesis: Does Predator Avoidance of Humans Create Refuges for Prey?

  2025cites this paper
• Preliminary inventory of a preserved Brazilian coastal Atlantic Forest reveals the absence of the top predator

  2025cites this paper
• Comparing local ecological knowledge with camera trap data to study mammal occurrence in anthropogenic landscapes of the Garden Route Biosphere Reserve

  2024cites this paper
• Integrating Participatory Mapping and Stewardship Perspectives to Support Human – Wildlife Coexistence in Shared Landscapes

  year unknowncites this paper