No consistent diversity patterns in terrestrial mammal assemblages along rural-urban forest gradients

Abstract Urbanization is increasing worldwide, fragmenting, isolating or destroying native habitats with a subsequent loss of biodiversity, structural and compositional changes biotic communities weakening the functioning biological processes ecosystem services. In urban ecosystems, terrestrial mammals provide important functions services, but we do not have synthesis impacts urbanization on mammals. Terrestrial are vulnerable to habitat modification caused by urbanization, thus hypothesised that abundance diversity would decrease as progresses. addition, due declining number predators decreasing predation pressure in habitats, assumed herbivore omnivore gain dominance. To clarify inconsistency previous studies mammals, synthetized re-evaluated published results meta-analysis. Based 50 rural-urban comparisons, were significantly more abundant diverse rural than habitats. This was only found at community level, also level taxonomic groups (carnivores, marsupials, rodents), feeding habit (carnivorous, herbivorous omnivorous species) their interactions. Our suggest studied urban-dwelling mammal species probably well adapted environmental conditions pressures accompanied via individual-level adaptation.