Data from: Time-lagged effects of habitat fragmentation on terrestrial mammals in Madagascar

In our paper “Time-lagged effects of habitat fragmentation on terrestrial mammals in Madagascar” (Conservation Biology) we quantified the magnitude of time-lagged effects of habitat fragmentation for 157 nonvolant terrestrial mammal species in Madagascar, one of the biodiversity hotspots with the highest rates of habitat loss and fragmentation. Therefore, we calculated the proportion of habitat area for each species that are too small to support populations for at least 100 years. First, we refined species’ geographic ranges based on habitat preferences and elevation limits. Secondly, we calculated population sizes of distinct populations by multiplying habitat area with population density. Finally, we used the Ricker-Logistic growth equation to simulate population trajectories for 100 years and determined whether each population could survive for at least 100 years. We used allometric relationships to obtain the required population parameters for this analysis, and we quantified the consequences of uncertainty in these parameter estimates by repeating the analyses with a range of plausible parameter values. Based on the median outcomes, the results showed that for 34 species (22% of the 157 species) at least 10% of their current habitat contained unviable populations. Based on 0.95-quantile values, following a precautionary principle, for 108 species (69%) at least 10% of their habitat contained unviable populations. These results highlight the need to preserve continuous habitat and improve connectivity between habitat fragments. Moreover, our findings may help to identify species for which time-lagged effects are most severe and which may thus benefit the most from conservation actions.

In this dataset we provide the taxonomy and trait data for each species analysed in this study. These trait data were used as input to the allometric relationships to predict population parameters. In addition, we provide the different plausible values for each population parameter and species, used in this study.