Chinese Pangolin Changes Local Vertebrate Assemblages and Contributes to Their Interspecific Interactions by Burrowing and Revisitation

Abstract

The burrow microhabitats created by burrowing mammals, as a hotspot for biodiversity distribution in ecosystems, provide multiple critical resources for many other sympatric species. However, the cascading effects of burrow resources on sympatric animal community assemblages and interspecific interactions are largely unknown. During 2020–2023, we monitored 184 Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) burrows using camera traps to reveal the burrow utilization patterns of commensal species. We totally recorded up to 57 species, with 19 mammal species, 32 bird species, and 1 reptile species recorded in the burrows revisited by Chinese pangolin, with 19 mammal species and 25 bird species in the non-revisited burrows. Among them, most bird species as peripheral species primarily utilize soil mounds while most mammal species as burrow-used species utilize burrow tunnels. The structure of animal communities in the burrows revisited by Chinese pangolins is more complex than that in the burrows not revisited. Furthermore, the positive correlation between community species in pangolin-revisited burrows is also stronger. Our results demonstrate that the presence and repeated visitation by Chinese pangolins could enhance positive interactions (i.e., the emergence of one species promotes the emergence of another) among species that utilize the burrow resources (particularly, burrow-used species). Our study provides the first evidence that the ecological role of the Chinese pangolin and its associated burrow microhabitats in promoting the coexistence of burrowing commensals and the restoration of Chinese pangolin populations may potentially contribute to the restoration of local biodiversity and ecological processes.

Keywords

burrow resources / camera trapping / commensal species / interspecific associations / species composition

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