Panthera, New York, NY, United States of America.
Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 23;16(3):e0249072. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249072. eCollection 2021.
Connectivity of natural areas through biological corridors is essential for ecosystem resilience and biodiversity conservation. However, robust assessments of biodiversity in corridor areas are often hindered by logistical constraints and the statistical challenges of modeling data from multiple species. Herein, we used a hierarchical community occupancy model in a Bayesian framework to evaluate the status of medium and large-sized mammals in a critical link of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) in Costa Rica. We used camera traps deployed from 2013-2017 to detect 18 medium (1-15 kg) and 6 large (>15 kg) mammal species in a portion of two Jaguar Conservation Units (JCUs) and the Corridor linking them. Camera traps operated for 16,904 trap nights across 209 stations, covering an area of 880 km2. Forest cover was the most important driver of medium and large-sized mammal habitat use, with forest specialists such as jaguars (Panthera onca) and pumas (Puma concolor) strongly associated with high forest cover, while habitat generalists such as coyotes (Canis latrans) and raccoons (Procyon lotor) were associated with low forest cover. Medium and large-sized mammal species richness was lower in the Corridor area ([Formula: see text] = 9.78±1.84) than in the portions evaluated of the two JCUs ([Formula: see text] = 11.50±1.52). Puma and jaguar habitat use probabilities were strongly correlated with large prey species richness (jaguar, r = 0.59, p<0.001; puma, r = 0.72, p<0.001), and correlated to a lesser extent with medium prey species richness (jaguar, r = 0.36, p = 0.003; puma, r = 0.23, p = 0.064). Low estimated jaguar habitat use probability in one JCU (Central Volcanic Cordillera: [Formula: see text] = 0.15±0.11) suggests that this is not the jaguar stronghold previously assumed. In addition, the western half of the Corridor has low richness of large mammals, making it necessary to take urgent actions to secure habitat connectivity for mammal populations.
生物走廊将自然区域连接起来对于生态系统的恢复力和生物多样性的保护至关重要。然而，由于后勤限制以及对来自多个物种的数据进行建模的统计挑战，对走廊区域生物多样性的稳健评估往往受到阻碍。在此，我们使用贝叶斯框架下的分层社区占有模型来评估哥斯达黎加中美洲生物走廊（MBC）关键连接点的中型和大型哺乳动物的状况。我们使用 2013 年至 2017 年部署的摄像机陷阱来检测两个美洲虎保护区（JCUs）的一部分和连接它们的走廊中的 18 种中型（1-15 公斤）和 6 种大型（>15 公斤）哺乳动物物种。摄像机陷阱在 209 个站点上运行了 16904 个陷阱夜，覆盖了 880 平方公里的面积。森林覆盖率是中型和大型哺乳动物栖息地利用的最重要驱动因素，像美洲虎（Panthera onca）和美洲狮（Puma concolor）这样的森林专家与高森林覆盖率密切相关，而像郊狼（Canis latrans）和浣熊（Procyon lotor）这样的栖息地一般物种则与低森林覆盖率相关。与评估的两个 JCUs 的部分区域相比，走廊区域的中型和大型哺乳动物物种丰富度较低（[Formula: see text] = 9.78±1.84）（[Formula: see text] = 11.50±1.52）。美洲狮和美洲虎的栖息地利用概率与大型猎物物种丰富度呈强相关（美洲虎，r = 0.59，p<0.001；美洲狮，r = 0.72，p<0.001），与中型猎物物种丰富度的相关性较小（美洲虎，r = 0.36，p = 0.003；美洲狮，r = 0.23，p = 0.064）。一个 JCU（中央火山山脉：[Formula: see text] = 0.15±0.11）中估计的美洲虎栖息地利用概率较低表明，这并不是以前假设的美洲虎据点。此外，走廊的西半部大型哺乳动物的丰富度较低，因此有必要采取紧急行动确保哺乳动物种群的栖息地连通性。
