A bibliometric analysis using machine learning to track paradigm shifts and analytical advances in forest ecology and forestry journal publications from 2010 to 2022

Forest habitats are critical for biodiversity,ecosystem services,human livelihoods,and well-being.Capacity to conduct theoretical and applied forest ecology research addressing direct(e.g.,deforestation)and indirect(e.g.,climate change)anthropogenic pressures has benefited considerably from new field-and statistical-techniques.We used machine learning and bibliometric structural topic modelling to identify 20 latent topics comprising four principal fields from a corpus of 16,952 forest ecology/forestry articles published in eight ecology and five forestry journals between 2010 and 2022.Articles published per year increased from 820 in 2010 to 2,354 in 2021,shifting toward more applied topics.Publications from China and some countries in North America and Europe dominated,with relatively fewer articles from some countries in West and Central Africa and West Asia,despite globally important forest resources.Most study sites were in some countries in North America,Central Asia,and South America,and Australia.Articles utilizing R statistical software predominated,increasing from 29.5%in 2010 to 71.4%in 2022.The most frequently used packages included lme4,vegan,nlme,MuMIn,ggplot2,car,MASS,mgcv,multcomp and raster.R was more often used in forest ecology than applied forestry articles.R software offers advantages in script and workflow-sharing compared to other statistical packages.Our findings demonstrate that the disciplines of forest ecology/forestry are expanding both in number and scope,aided by more sophisticated statistical tools,to tackle the challenges of redressing forest habitat loss and the socio-economic impacts of deforestation.

Prosecution records reveal pangolin trading networks in China, 2014–2019

In a precautionary response to the current coronavirus(COVID-19)pandemic,China’s Ministries permanently banned eating and trading in terrestrial wild(non-livestock)animals on 24 February 2020,and extensively updated the list of Fauna under Special State Protection(LFSSP)in 2020 and 2021,in which pangolins(Manidae spp.)were upgraded to the highest protection level.Examining 509 pangolin prosecution records from China Judgements online prior to these changes(01/01/14–31/12/19),we identified that Guangdong,Guangxi and Yunnan Provinces were hotspots for trade in whole pangolins and their scales.

Seismic sentinel? An analysis of captive giant panda behavior in response to the Lushan earthquake in China

It is widely believed that various animal species can sense and respond to the geophysical stimuli that precede earthquakes,especially electromagnetic fields,although supporting field evidence is mostly anecdotal.Here we report on the reactions of four female giant pandas under observation over the three days prior to the Lushan(30.1°N,103.0°E)magnitude 7.0 earthquake that occurred in Sichuan province,China,on April 20,2013.We observed no significant generalized behavioral anomalies indicative of them perceiving an impending earthquake.We also observed no startle behaviors in the 5 s prior to tremors commencing,indicating that these pandas either did not detect or did not respond to precursor P-waves.Our findings suggest that although giant pandas have evolved in,and continue to occupy exclusively,a seismically active range in central China,they do not appear to perceive pre-earthquake geophysical warning signs.

Ecotourist trail-use affects the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of mammals in a protected area: lessons for conservation management

Ecotourism,by definition,aims to engage peoples’interest in wildlife and the environment.The use of tourist roads and trails to access sites within protected areas(PAs)can detrimentally affect the behavior and distribution of species.The way mammals respond to anthropogenic pressures may differ across taxonomic,functional,and phy-logenetic groups;nevertheless,how ecotourist trail-use affects these different diversity remains under-investigated.Here,we assessed 6 metrics of taxonomic,phylogenetic,and functional diversity for a mammal community in a PA in central China,recording how Trail use(using Trail type as a proxy)and habitat variables affected sightings and signs of mammals across 60 replicate 0.5 km transects.We then examined how Trail use affected the taxonomic,functional,and phylogenetic diversity indices of species(>1 kg).Using generalized liner mixed modeling,we identified that more used trail types had a greater adverse effect on all diversity richness indices than did less used trail types.Consequently,tourist pressure was associated with a general tendency to homogenize the site’s mammal community.In contrast,the effects of Trail Types on all diversity evenness indices were non-significant.Further-more,more developed and more heavily used trail types had a greater,significant negative effect on taxonomic,functional,and phylogenetic richness,whereas these richness indices were unaffected by minor trail types,used less intensively.As a general principle,lower biodiversity indices reduce ecosystem resilience,and so it is vital to better understand these responses to balance public access against biodiversity management in PAs.

Dietary overlap of snow leopard and other carnivores in the Pamirs of Northwestern China

Information about competition between carnivore species for food within high altitude regions is limited.Data collected from the Taxkorgan Nature Reserve,China revealed important interactions between snow leopard(Panthera uncia),grey wolf(Canis lupus),red fox(Vulpes vulpes)and their prey species,including domestic livestock.Sixty-four line transects were conducted in order to identify field signs of habitat occupancy and collect scats for diet analysis.High dietary overlap was observed between all three carnivore species:snow leopard and red fox(Pianka’s index=0.96),red fox and grey wolf(Pianka’s index=0.90),snow leopard and grey wolf(Pianka’s index=0.87).Snow leopard and grey wolf showed significant predation on livestock(36.8%for snow leopard and 29.4%for grey wolf in diet composition).As a pioneering exploration of the endangered snow leopard and its relationship with other species within the alpine ecosystem under livestock grazing pressure,this study contributes a greater understanding of the relationship within carnivore guild in the Pamirs whilst providing implications for conservation planning and project implementation activities in China.

Response of endemic afroalpine rodents to the removal of livestock grazing pressure

The Bale Mountains of Ethiopia represent the world＇s largest continuous extent of afroalpine habitat. With a peak combined density of over 8000 individuals/km2, the endemic giant mole rat Tachyoryctes macrocephalus, Blick＇s grass rat Arvi- canthis blicki and the brush-furred mouse Lophuromys melanonyx are the dominant wild herbivores within this ecosystem and may be affected by the presence of high densities of domestic livestock. The purpose of this study was to establish whether these endemic rodent populations could respond to the removal of grazing pressure inside three 0.25 hectare livestock exclosures （paired with grazed control plots） and to determine whether such response was mediated through concomitant changes in the vegetation structure. We hypothesised that livestock grazing negatively affects endemic rodent populations through competition or increased predation risk and we predicted an increase in rodent biomass following the removal of grazing pressure. We found no evidence of rodent populations responding to the removal of livestock after fourteen months. The short-term nature of the ex- perimental design, environmental fluctuations and the ecosystem＇s inherent stochasticity may explain the apparent lack of a sig- nificant response. However, while this study is inconclusive, it emphasises the need for more long-term experimental investiga- tions to assess the effects of domestic grazers on vegetation and on dependent communities. The effects of rapidly increasing livestock numbers in the Bale Mountains will require continued close monitoring of vegetation and endemic animal communities as the afroalpine is altered by external biotic and abiotic forces .

Testing a passive tracking index for monitoring the endangered Ethiopian wolf

The endangered Ethiopian wolf is considered the rarest canid in Africa.The species faces many threats and is particularly vulnerable to diseases such as rabies.A simple,low-technology means to monitor populations would greatly facilitate conservation efforts,through early detection of population changes and behavior,and signaling a need for intervention.We tested a passive tracking index methodology,which has been a valuable tool for indexing canids and other species around the world.The method uses counts of track intrusions into plots placed in the animals’routes of travel as the basis for calculating an index.Unlike for other species,for which the placement of tracking plots on dirt roads has been extremely successful,we found in our first trial that this approach did not adequately intersect the wolves’activity patterns.The low vegetation associated with Afro-alpine habitats offered little benefit for the wolves to travel roads.However,in our second trial among molerat colonies,a focus of wolf foraging activity,we found plot placement on molerat mounds was efficient for collecting Ethiopian wolf plot intrusions for index calculations.This plot placement method coupled with the passive tracking index calculations might offer resource managers a cost efficient tool that requires minimal equipment to monitor Ethiopian wolf populations on the Sanetti Plateau and other Afro-alpine habitats.Plot placement on roads in other Ethiopian wolf habitats where cross-country travel is more difficult might still be a viable means to collect track data,but would require further testing.

Push and pull factors driving movement in a social mammal: context dependent behavioral plasticity at the landscape scale

Understanding how key parameters(e.g.,density,range-size,and configuration)can affect animal movement remains a major goal of population ecology.This is particularly important for wildlife disease hosts,such as the European badger Meles meles,a reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis.Here we show how movements of 463 individuals among 223 inferred group territories across 755 km2 in Ireland were affected by sex,age,past-movement history,group composition,and group size index from 2009 to 2012.Females exhibited a greater probability of moving into groups with a male-biased composition,but male movements into groups were not associated with group composition.Male badgers were,however,more likely to make visits into territories than females.Animals that had immigrated into a territory previously were more likely to emigrate in the future.Animals exhibiting such"itinerant"movement patterns were more likely to belong to younger age classes.Inter-territorial movement propensity was negatively associated with group size,indicating that larger groups were more stable and less attractive(or permeable)to immigrants.Across the landscape,there was substantial variation in inferred territory-size and movement dynamics,which was related to group size.This represents behavioral plasticity previously only reported at the scale of the species’biogeographical range.Our results highlight how a"one-size-fits-all"explanation of badger movement is likely to fail under varying ecological contexts and scales,with implications for bovine tuberculosis management.

Ecological role of the giant root-rat(Tachyoryctes macrocephalus)in the Afroalpine ecosystem

Rodents with prevailing subterranean activity usually play an important role in the ecosystems of which they are a part due to the combined effect of herbivory and soil perturbation.This is the case for the giant root-rat Tachyoryctes macrocephalus endemic to the Afroalpine ecosystem of the Bale Mountains,Ethiopia.We studied the impact of root-rats on various ecosystem features within a 3.5-ha study locality dominated by Alchemilla pasture,which represents an optimal habitat for this species,in 2 periods of a year.The root-rats altered plant species composition,reducing the dominant forb,Alchemilla abyssinica,while enhancing Salvia merjame and a few other species,and reduced vegetation cover,but not the fresh plant biomass.Where burrows were abandoned by root-rats,other rodents took them over and A.abyssinica increased again.Root-rat burrowing created small-scale heterogeneity in soil compactness due to the backfilling of some unused burrow segments.Less compacted soil tended to be rich in nutrients,including carbon,nitrogen and phosphorus,which likely affected the plant growth on sites where the vegetation has been reduced as a result of root-rat foraging and burrowing.