Characterizing mammal community responses to large-scale impacts and interventions.

不断增长的人口的累积影响正在改变地球，威胁着物种和生态系统。人类对土地的使用覆盖了一半以上的陆地基地，使自然生境退化，并加剧了对生物多样性的其他威胁。中型和大型陆生哺乳动物（大型哺乳动物）是生物多样性的一个关键组成部分，面临着越来越大的压力。它们在自然生态系统的运作中发挥着关键作用，创造了大量的经济收入，并体现了巨大的文化价值。许多较大的哺乳动物对人类干扰很敏感，而另一些则在人类改变的栖息地中变得过于丰富。在威胁和冲突之间找到一个平衡点--人类与野生动物共存的途径--需要了解哺乳动物对人类影响和干预的反应。 ** 我的计划的目标是预测陆地哺乳动物群落如何应对改变景观的累积环境影响。我最近的工作阐明了一个概念框架，以改善累积效应评估，将大规模的监测监测与物种影响关系的预测建模相结合。我的团队通过改进相机陷阱（CT）的使用来推进这一框架，以进行多物种，多尺度的调查，从而在累积干扰面前识别野生动物的赢家和输家。我们将在这项研究的基础上，检验这一假设，即累积的人类干扰代表了对哺乳动物群落的过滤，导致群落结构的可预测的变化。为此，我们将：1）改进CT对相互作用的哺乳动物种群的分布和丰度的推断; 2）测试哺乳动物-景观关系的多尺度模型; 3）推进哺乳动物群落结构和恢复力的指标;以及4）将CT调查与群落级管理实验相结合。我的计划将提供一个概念验证的协调分布式实验使用CT，利用这种多物种调查工具的出现和社会投资管理干预。我们将测试灭绝脆弱性，功能多样性和社区弹性的基本假设，同时确定额外的机制研究方向。我们的方法测试和创新将广泛应用于学术界内外的生物多样性研究和监测，并将通过我们的WildCAM网络广泛传播。我的项目将培训20多名HQP，为下一代野生动物科学家做出重大贡献，并将包括与广泛的研究用户（包括政府和行业）的积极参与。我们的最终目标是创造知识和能力，以支持人类与野生动物的成功共存。

The cumulative impact of a growing human population is transforming the Earth and threatening species and ecosystems. Human land uses cover more than half of the terrestrial land base, degrading natural habitats and compounding other threats to biodiversity. Medium- and large-bodied terrestrial mammals (larger mammals) are a key component of biodiversity facing mounting pressure. They play critical roles in the functioning of natural ecosystems, generate substantial economic revenues, and embody great cultural value. Many larger mammals are sensitive to human disturbances while others become overabundant in human-modified habitats. Finding a balance between threat and conflict—a path to human-wildlife coexistence—requires an understanding of mammal responses to anthropogenic impacts and interventions. ******The goal of my program is to predict how terrestrial mammal communities respond to cumulative environmental effects in transforming landscapes. My recent work has articulated a conceptual framework to improve cumulative effects assessment by integrating large-scale surveillance monitoring with predictive modelling of species-impact relationships. My group has advanced this framework through improving the use of camera traps (CTs) to pursue multi-species, multi-scale inquiry, and thereby identify wildlife winners and losers in the face of cumulative disturbances. We will build on this research to test the hypothesis that cumulative human disturbance represents a filter on mammal communities, causing predictable shifts in community structure. We will do this by: 1) improving CT inferences on the distribution and abundance of interacting mammal populations; 2) testing multi-scale models of mammal-landscape relationships; 3) advancing metrics of mammalian community structure and resilience; and 4) combining CT surveys with landscape-level management experiments.******My program will provide a proof-of-concept for coordinated distributed experiments using CTs, capitalizing on the emergence of this multi-species survey tool and on societal investments in management interventions. We will test fundamental hypotheses on extinction vulnerability, functional diversity, and community resilience, while identifying directions for additional mechanistic research. Our methodological tests and innovations will have broad application to biodiversity research and monitoring in and out of academia, and will be widely disseminated through our WildCAM network. My program will train over 20 HQP, making significant contributions to the next generation of wildlife scientists, and will include active engagement with a wide range of research users (including government and industry). Our ultimate goal is to produce knowledge and capacity to support successful human-wildlife coexistence.