Occupancy winners in tropical protected forests: a pantropical analysis

The structure of forest mammal communities appears surprisingly consistent across the continental tropics, presumably due to convergent evolution in similar environments. Whether such consistency extends to mammal occupancy, despite variation in species characteristics and context, remains unclear. Here we ask whether we can predict occupancy patterns and, if so, whether these relationships are consistent across biogeographic regions. Specifically, we assessed how mammal feeding guild, body mass and ecological specialization relate to occupancy in protected forests across the tropics. We used standardized camera-trap data (1,002 camera-trap locations and 2-10 years of data) and a hierarchical Bayesian occupancy model. We found that occupancy varied by regions, and certain species characteristics explained much of this variation. Herbivores consistently had the highest occupancy. However, only in the Neotropics did we detect a significant effect of body mass on occupancy: large mammals h..., CAMERA-TRAP DATA:
We used data from the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network, a standardized tropical forest camera-trap monitoring system. The TEAM data comprises camera-trap data from protected areas located across three different biogeographic regions (Neotropical, Afrotropical and Indo-Malayan). In each area, camera-traps are deployed at 60-90 locations at a density of 1 camera per 1-2 km2. Each camera-trap is deployed for a minimum of 30 days during the dry season (i.e., months with <100 mm average rainfall or the driest part of the year in the absence of dry season), although cameras may be active for less than 30 days due to damage or failure. 
SPECIES COVARIATES:
1. Body mass, defined as average adult body mass, reflects the amount and quality of resources that a species requires to survive, as well as home range size, fecundity or susceptibility to predation.
2. Forest strata represents the foraging stratum: ground-dwelling and arboreal/scansorial specie...,