Body mass and trophic level variations in relation to habitat disturbance in a set of mammal species

We tested whether the species linked to progressively disturbed environments differed in terms of their body size and trophic level. We used a set of mammal species from a region of central Italy (Latium), for which both a representative amount of data (> 30 records) and their habitat preferences were obtained from a regional atlas. To assess the level of disturbance, we used the hemeroby index (HS). We categorized the focal mammals in three groups subdivided by their body size (small, medium, large) and trophic level (omnivorous, herbivorous, predators), and applied a suite of statistical analyses, including GLM modeling. We observed that at the increase of species' body mass, the HS index significantly decreased, while no significant changes occurred when using the categories of trophic level. Species inhabiting or colonizing disturbed habitats are usually r-strategists with high dispersal rates and rapid recruitment, traits often associated to small body size. There was also no correlation between body size and trophic level by species