Browsing by Autor "Charles H. Nilon"

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Datasets: Urbanisation generates multiple trait syndromes for terrestrial animal taxa worldwide
(2023) Amy K. Hahs; Bertrand Fournier; Myla F. J. Aronson; Charles H. Nilon; Adriana Herrera-Montes; Allyson B. Salisbury; Caragh G. Threlfall; Christine C. Rega‐Brodsky; Christopher A. Lepczyk; Frank A. La Sorte
This repository contains the datasets used in the main article: There is one Excel file per taxonomic group (amphibians, bats, bees, birds, ground beetles, and reptiles). Each file consists of three Excel spreadsheets: "Species" = matrix of species by sites; "Sites" = ID and coordinates of sites + urban and forest land cover variables; "Traits" = matrix of species by traits. Each spreadsheet contains the raw data used for the analyses in the article. For more information on how to handle the data, see the "Method" section.
Datasets: Urbanisation generates multiple trait syndromes for terrestrial animal taxa worldwide
(European Organization for Nuclear Research, 2023) Amy K. Hahs; Bertrand Fournier; Myla F. J. Aronson; Charles H. Nilon; Adriana Herrera-Montes; Allyson B. Salisbury; Caragh G. Threlfall; Christine C. Rega‐Brodsky; Christopher A. Lepczyk; Frank A. La Sorte
This repository contains the datasets used in the main article: There is one Excel file per taxonomic group (amphibians, bats, bees, birds, ground beetles, and reptiles). Each file consists of three Excel spreadsheets: "Species" = matrix of species by sites; "Sites" = ID and coordinates of sites + urban and forest land cover variables; "Traits" = matrix of species by traits. Each spreadsheet contains the raw data used for the analyses in the article. For more information on how to handle the data, see the "Method" section.
Urbanisation generates multiple trait syndromes for terrestrial animal taxa worldwide
(Nature Portfolio, 2023) Amy K. Hahs; Bertrand Fournier; Myla F. J. Aronson; Charles H. Nilon; Adriana Herrera-Montes; Allyson B. Salisbury; Caragh G. Threlfall; Christine C. Rega‐Brodsky; Christopher A. Lepczyk; Frank A. La Sorte
Cities can host significant biological diversity. Yet, urbanisation leads to the loss of habitats, species, and functional groups. Understanding how multiple taxa respond to urbanisation globally is essential to promote and conserve biodiversity in cities. Using a dataset encompassing six terrestrial faunal taxa (amphibians, bats, bees, birds, carabid beetles and reptiles) across 379 cities on 6 continents, we show that urbanisation produces taxon-specific changes in trait composition, with traits related to reproductive strategy showing the strongest response. Our findings suggest that urbanisation results in four trait syndromes (mobile generalists, site specialists, central place foragers, and mobile specialists), with resources associated with reproduction and diet likely driving patterns in traits associated with mobility and body size. Functional diversity measures showed varied responses, leading to shifts in trait space likely driven by critical resource distribution and abundance, and taxon-specific trait syndromes. Maximising opportunities to support taxa with different urban trait syndromes should be pivotal in conservation and management programmes within and among cities. This will reduce the likelihood of biotic homogenisation and helps ensure that urban environments have the capacity to respond to future challenges. These actions are critical to reframe the role of cities in global biodiversity loss.
Urbanisation generates multiple trait syndromes for terrestrial taxa worldwide
(2023) Amy K. Hahs; Bertrand Fournier; Myla F. J. Aronson; Charles H. Nilon; Adriana Herrera-Montes; Allyson B. Salisbury; Caragh G. Threlfall; Christine C. Rega‐Brodsky; Christopher A. Lepczyk; Frank A. La Sorte
Cities can host significant biological diversity. Yet, urbanisation leads to the loss of habitats and, potentially, to local extinctions. Understanding how multiple taxa respond to urbanisation globally is essential to promote and conserve biodiversity in cities and surrounding landscapes. Using a dataset with site-level occurrence and trait data of 5302 species from six terrestrial fauna taxonomic groups across 379 cities on 6 continents, we show that urbanisation produces taxon-specific changes in trait composition, with traits related to reproductive strategy consistently showing the strongest response. The effect of urbanisation on community trait composition is strongest at the largest spatial scale considered, and more closely linked to landscape composition (% urban) than arrangement (aggregation), although latitude and climatic variables remain a stronger influence. This study did not find evidence in support of a global urban taxa syndrome, but instead we suggest that there are four general urban trait syndromes, with resources associated with reproduction and diet likely to be driving patterns in traits associated with mobility and body size. Functional diversity measures showed a wide range of responses, leading to a shift in trait space that is most likely driven by the distribution and abundance of critical resources, and the urban trait syndrome displayed by individual species within a community. Further research is required to understand the interactions between the four general urban trait syndromes, resource distribution and abundance and changes in functional diversity of taxa at different spatial and temporal scales. Maximising opportunities to support species within taxa groups with different urban trait syndromes should be pivotal in conservation and management programmes within and among cities. This will reduce the likelihood of biotic homogenisation at the taxa level, and helps ensure that urban environments have the ecological capacity to respond to challenges such as climate change, further habitat fragmentation and loss, and other disruptions. These actions are critical if we are to reframe the role of cities in global biodiversity loss.