Journal Article
Local and Landscape‐Level Environmental Conditions Drive Habitat Selection Across Terrestrial Mammal Species
Björn H. Franke; Aafke M. Schipper; Tal Avgar; Luca Börger; Nilanjan Chatterjee; Thomas Müller; Brian J. Smith; Briana Abrahms; Abdullahi H. Ali; Nina Attias; Hattie L. A. Bartlam‐Brooks; Floris M. van Beest; Jerrold L. Belant; Dean E. Beyer; Niels Blaum; Michael B. Brown; Bayarbaatar Buuveibaatar; Francesca Cagnacci; Simon Chamaillé‐Jammes; Nandintsetseg Dejid; Jasja Dekker; Arnaud L. J. Desbiez; Julian Fennessy; Christina Fischer; Ilya Fischhoff; Adam T. Ford; Benedikt Gehr; Jacob R. Goheen; Ronaldo Gonçalves Morato; Mark Hebblewhite; Robert Hering; Marco Heurich; A. J. Mark Hewison; Lynne A. Isbell; Matthew Kauffman; Andrew Jakes; René Janssen; Paul F. Jones; Bob Jonge Poerink; Clayton Lamb; John D. C. Linnell; A. Catherine Markham; Courtney J. Marneweck; Jenny Mattisson; John McEvoy; Erling Meisingset; Evelyn Merrill; Guilherme de Miranda Mourão; Bram Van Moorter; Nicolas Morellet; Atle Mysterud; John Odden; Kirk A. Olson; Agustín Paviolo; Tyler Petroelje; Kelly M. Proffitt; Kasim Rafiq; Nathan Ranc; Christer Moe Rolandsen; Daniel I. Rubenstein; Sonia Saïd; Hall Sawyer; Niels Martin Schmidt; Nuria Selva; Agnieszka Sergiel; Erling Johan Solberg; Melissa Songer; Jonas Stiegler; Olav Strand; Siva Sundaresan; Jeffrey J. Thompson; Wiebke Ullmann; Dorj Usukhjargal; Ulrich Voigt; Filip Zięba; Tomasz Zwijacz‐Kozica; Mark A. J. Huijbregts; Marlee A. Tucker
Global Ecology and Biogeography · Vol. 35, Issue 3 · 2026
Abstract
Aim Animal movements are a fundamental process affecting communities and ecosystems. Quantifying habitat selection across species and habitats is key for understanding how animals respond to environmental change. Currently, we lack comparative studies that examine how habitat selection varies across species traits and landscapes. We aim to quantify global patterns of habitat selection to help understand the fundamental drivers of movement behaviour. Location Global. Time Period Contemporary. Major Taxa Studied Terrestrial mammals. Methods We estimated selection coefficients for terrain ruggedness, vegetation productivity, human population density and distance to roads of individual terrestrial mammals through step‐selection analysis of 1344 GPS tracks across 48 species. We quantified intra‐ and interspecific variation and tested whether selection coefficients were associated with species traits and habitat availability. Results We observe an overall avoidance of roads and areas of high human population density as well as rugged terrain, with a large proportion of individuals selecting for areas of intermediate NDVI. However, we also found large intraspecific variation in habitat selection and show that this variation is predicted by local and landscape‐level environmental conditions rather than species traits. Individuals in more remote areas exhibited weaker functional responses to human presence than those in more disturbed areas. Avoidance of rugged terrain is also context‐dependent, with stronger avoidance when local ruggedness is high. The only exception to the observed intraspecific variability is consistent species‐level responses to road proximity. Main Conclusions Our findings contribute to the understanding of habitat selection by terrestrial mammals, showing that selection is largely shaped by environmental conditions and that animals exhibit high plasticity in their responses. Our results also provide further evidence for the significant impact of roads on animal movement. These insights can help us to understand the potential effects of environmental change on the behaviour of mammal species around the world.