Homogenization of terrestrial mammals in fragmented rainforests: the loss of species turnover and its landscape drivers

Understanding the factors and mechanisms shaping differences in species composition across space and time (beta-diversity) in human-modified landscapes has key ecological and applied implications. This topic is, however, challenging because landscape disturbance can promote either decreases (biotic homogenization) or increases (biotic differentiation) in beta-diversity. We assessed temporal differences in intersite beta-diversity of medium-bodied and large-bodied mammals in the fragmented Lacandona rainforest, Mexico. We hypothesized that, given the relatively short history of land-use changes in the region, and the gain and loss of some species caused by landscape spatial changes, beta-diversity would increase through time, especially its nestedness component. We estimated beta-diversity between 24 forest sites (22 forest patches and two continuous forest sites) in 2011 and 2017 to assess whether beta-diversity is decreasing or increasing in the region, and calculated its turnover and nestedness components to understand the mechanisms responsible for changes in beta-diversity, separately assessing mammal groups with different body mass, feeding guild, and habitat specialization. We then related such temporal changes in beta-diversity to temporal changes in five landscape variables (forest cover, matrix openness, number of patches, edge density and interpatch distance) to identify the landscape drivers of beta-diversity. In contrast with our expectations, beta-diversity decreased over time, suggesting an ongoing biotic homogenization process. This pattern was mostly driven by a decrease in species turnover in all mammal groups, especially in landscapes with decreasing forest cover and increasing forested matrices. Although the nestedness component showed a three-fold increase through time, species turnover was 22 and six times higher than nestedness in 2011 and 2017, respectively. The decreased turnover appears to be driven by an increase in dispersal (i.e., spillover) of native species among patches. The prevalence of species turnover over nestedness indicates that different forest sites have a fairly distinct subset of species (i.e., high complementarity in species composition). Therefore, conserving all remaining forest patches and increasing forest cover is of utmost importance to effectively maintain beta-diversity and conserve the total diversity (gamma) of mammal assemblages in this Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot.

Automated summary

This study assessed the temporal changes in beta-diversity of medium-bodied and large-bodied mammals in the Lacandona rainforest, Mexico, and found that beta-diversity decreased over time, mainly driven by a decrease in species turnover. This suggests that different forest sites in the landscape have a fairly distinct subset of species, highlighting the importance of conserving all remaining forest patches and increasing forest cover to effectively maintain beta-diversity.