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Predator-prey temporal niche partitioning under human disturbance: a meta-analysis


Abstract

Human disturbances are modifying animal behavior in ecosystems worldwide, with the potential to reshape species interactions. For instance, human-induced shifts in diel activity may disrupt the alignment of daily activity patterns between interacting species and destabilize temporal niche partitioning. To test this hypothesis, we leverage a global meta-analysis on the effects of human disturbance on diel activity and overlap of 480 mammalian predator–prey and intraguild predator dyads from 57 studies. We demonstrate that human disturbance has no overall effect on temporal overlap. Instead, the body mass ratios between dominant species and subordinate species shape the influence of human disturbance. When subordinates are larger than dominant species, humans compress the temporal niche (i.e., higher diel overlap), but when dominant species are larger than subordinate species, humans expand the temporal niche (i.e., lower diel overlap). These results suggest that larger bodied mammals “lose” the temporal predator–prey response race under human disturbance, with large predators experiencing less overlap with their prey, and large prey facing more overlap with their predators. As the human footprint expands globally, we can expect continued alterations to the animal temporal niche, with consequences for species interactions, population persistence, community structure, and evolutionary dynamics.

Data availability

All data generated in this study are provided in the Supplementary Information. Additionally, all data used in this study are available in the Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/17546952) and Github (https://eamonn-wooster.github.io/Disturbed_predator_prey/).

Code availability

Code generated in this study are provided in the Supplementary Information. Code used in this study are available in the Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/17546952) and Github (https://eamonn-wooster.github.io/Disturbed_predator_prey/).

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Acknowledgments

We thank all authors who collected and shared their field data and those in particular who were generous with their time in helping us understand their data. E.I.F.W. was supported by a Gulbali DECRA Track Postdoctoral Fellowship while leading this paper. We thank Arian Wallach, Chris Jolly and David Watson for feedback on an earlier version of this paper. We thank Matthew Luskin for help identifying South-East Asian pairings. We are grateful to Laura Prugh and two anonymous reviewers whose detailed and through reviews significantly improved the paper. We are thankful to Springer Nature for a full publishing fee waiver.

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Contributions

Conceptualization: E.I.F.W., K.M.G., and D.G.N. Investigation: E.I.F.W., M.A.C., E.C.F., A.J.R.C, A.S.K.F., K.L.G., J.R.G., G.D.L., T.M., A.S., K.C.W., N.S.W., and D.W. Methodology: E.I.F.W., S.N., E.J.L., K.M.G., E.C.F., and D.G.N. Data Curation: E.I.F.W., S.N., E.J.L., K.M.G., D.G.N., and E.C.F. Formal analysis: E.I.F.W., S.N., E.J.L., K.M.G., D.G.N., and E.C.F., Software: E.I.F.W., S.N., and E.J.L. Visualization: E.I.F.W., K.M.G., E.J.L., S.N., and D.G.N. Writing—original draft: E.I.F.W. Writing—review and editing: E.I.F.W., K.M.G., E.J.L., S.N., D.G.N., M.A.C., A.J.R.C, A.S.K.F., K.L.G., J.R.G., G.D.L., T.M., A.S., K.C.W., N.S.W., and D.W. Alphabetical ordering of middle authors (by last name) indicates equal contribution.

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Correspondence to
Eamonn I. F. Wooster.

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Nature Communications thanks Laura Prugh and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. A peer review file is available.

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Wooster, E.I.F., Lundgren, E.J., Nimmo, D.G. et al. Predator-prey temporal niche partitioning under human disturbance: a meta-analysis.
Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69113-9

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