Moving in the Anthropocene: Global reductions in terrestrial mammalian movements.
Marlee A TuckerKatrin Böhning-GaeseWilliam F FaganJohn M FryxellBram Van MoorterSusan C AlbertsAbdullahi H AliAndrew M AllenNina AttiasTal AvgarHattie L A Bartlam-BrooksBuuveibaatar BayarbaatarJerrold L BelantAlessandra BertassoniDean BeyerLaura BidnerFloris M van BeestStephen BlakeNiels BlaumChloe BracisDanielle BrownP J Nico de BruynFrancesca CagnacciJustin M CalabreseConstança Camilo-AlvesSimon Chamaillé-JammesAndré ChiaradiaSarah C DavidsonTodd DennisStephen DeStefanoDuane R DiefenbachIain Douglas-HamiltonJulian FennessyClaudia FichtelWolfgang FiedlerChristina FischerIlya R FischhoffChristen H FlemingAdam T FordSusanne A FritzBenedikt GehrJacob R GoheenEliezer GurarieMark HebblewhiteMarco HeurichA J Mark HewisonChristian HofEdward HurmeLynne A IsbellRené JanssenFlorian JeltschPetra KaczenskyAdam KanePeter M KappelerMatthew KauffmanRoland KaysDuncan M KimuyuFlávia KochBart KranstauberScott D LaPointPeter LeimgruberJohn D C LinnellPascual López-LópezA Catherine MarkhamJenny MattissonEmilia Patricia MediciUgo MelloneEvelyn H MerrillGuilherme de Miranda MourãoRonaldo Gonçalves MoratoNicolas MorelletThomas A MorrisonSamuel L Díaz MuñozMysterud AtleNandintsetseg DejidRan NathanAidin NiamirJohn OddenRobert Brian O'HaraLuiz Gustavo R Oliveira-SantosKirk A OlsonBruce D PattersonRogerio Cunha de PaulaLuca PedrottiBjörn ReinekingMartin RimmlerTracey L RogersChrister Moe RolandsenChristopher S RosenberryDaniel I RubensteinKamran SafiSonia SaïdNir SapirHall SawyerNiels Martin SchmidtNuria SelvaAgnieszka SergielEnkhtuvshin ShiilegdambaJoão Paulo SilvaNavinder SinghErling J SolbergOrr SpiegelOlav StrandSiva SundaresanWiebke UllmannUlrich VoigtJake WallDavid WattlesMartin WikelskiChristopher C WilmersJohn W WilsonGeorge WittemyerFilip ZiębaTomasz Zwijacz-KozicaThomas MuellerPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2018)
Animal movement is fundamental for ecosystem functioning and species survival, yet the effects of the anthropogenic footprint on animal movements have not been estimated across species. Using a unique GPS-tracking database of 803 individuals across 57 species, we found that movements of mammals in areas with a comparatively high human footprint were on average one-half to one-third the extent of their movements in areas with a low human footprint. We attribute this reduction to behavioral changes of individual animals and to the exclusion of species with long-range movements from areas with higher human impact. Global loss of vagility alters a key ecological trait of animals that affects not only population persistence but also ecosystem processes such as predator-prey interactions, nutrient cycling, and disease transmission.