DOI: 10.5061/dryad.m0s63
title: Data from: Assessing the distribution of disease-bearing rodents in human-modified tropical landscapes

description: 1. We tested how habitat structure and fragmentation affect the spatial
 distribution of common murine rodents inhabiting human-dominated
 landscapes in southeast Asia. The spatial distribution patterns observed
 for each rodent species were then used to assess how changes in habitat
 structure may potentially affect the risk of several major rodent-borne
 diseases. 2. For this analysis, we used an extensive geo-referenced
 database containing details of rodents trapped from seven sites in
 Thailand, Cambodia and Lao PDR. We also developed land cover layers for
 each site. Results from published studies that screened for five major
 rodent-borne pathogens in rodents were used to estimate how these
 pathogens would likely be impacted by these alterations in habitat
 structure and composition. 3. Our results confirmed the specialist and/or
 synanthropic status of several rodent species, although the majority of
 species studied demonstrated some degree of low level of habitat
 specialization. 4. Habitat diversity and its alteration (decreasing forest
 cover, increasing fragmentation, increasing urbanisation) were found to
 favour the presence of synanthropic rodent species such as Rattus
 tanezumi, known to damage crops and host important rodent-borne diseases.
 5. Synthesis and applications. The five major rodent-borne pathogens were
 linked to ongoing changes in habitat structure. In particular the presence
 of Bartonella spp. and hantaviruses seemed to be favoured in wooded
 landscapes affected by ongoing fragmentation and human encroachments.
 Rodents also pose significant problems for crop production in southeast
 Asia. Our results showed that the structure of the landscape affects the
 likely presence of rodent species considered as agricultural pests. The
 patchy structure of a landscape can either enhance, such as B. indica, or
 decrease, such as B. savilei, the presence of rodents that may cause
 serious damage to crops.
description: Morand_dryadID: Identification number of rodent individuals species: species name of rodents sex: F (Female), M (Male), unknown (missing information) age: adult, sub adult, young (based on size and development of genital organs) accuracy: accuracy of trapping point using GPS, 1 = inferior to 10 m, 2 = inferior to 100 m habitat: main habitat of the trapping= lowland, upland (non flooded lands), forest, settlement habitat2: description of habita site: locality in Thailand, Laos and Cambodian longitude: GPS coordinates latitude: GPS coordinates elevation: in meter slope: in % Distance to forest: in meter Distance to agriculture steep: in meter Distance to agriculture flat: in meter Distance to built-up: in meter Distance to water: in meter SHDI: Shannon’s Diversity Index Patch density: density of patches of the different land cover types Edge density: density of the contours of all patches Total_area: in square meter Water: in % of total area Agriculture steep: in % of total area Agriculture flat: in % of total area Agricultre irrigated: in % of total area Built-up areas Forest: in % of total area