DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1jwstqk22
title: Differential utilization of surface and arboreal water bodies by birds and mammals in a seasonally dry Neotropical forest in southern Mexico

description: Water availability significantly influences bird and mammal ecology in
 terrestrial ecosystems. However, our understanding of the role of water as
 a limiting resource for birds and mammals remains partial because most of
 the studies have focused on surface water bodies of desert and semi-desert
 ecosystems. This study assessed the use of two types of surface water
 bodies (waterholes and epikarst rock pools) and one arboreal (water-filled
 tree holes) by birds and mammals in the seasonally dry tropical forests of
 the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in southern Mexico. We deployed camera
 traps in 23 waterholes, 22 rock pools, and 19 water-filled tree holes in
 this karstic region to record visits by small, medium, and large-bodied
 birds and mammals during the dry and rainy seasons. These cameras were set
 up to record videos documenting when animals were making use of water for
 drinking, bathing, or both. We compared the species diversity and
 composition of bird and mammal assemblages using the different types of
 water bodies by calculating Hill numbers and conducting non-metric
 multidimensional scaling (NMDS), indicator species, and contingency table
 analyses. There was a greater species richness of birds and mammals using
 surface water bodies than tree holes during both seasons. There were
 significant differences in species composition among bird assemblages
 using the different water bodies, but dominant species and diversity
 remained the same. Terrestrial and larger mammalian species preferentially
 used surface water bodies whereas arboreal and scansorial small and medium
 mammals were more common in arboreal water bodies. These findings suggest
 that differences in water body characteristics might favor segregation in
 mammal activity. The different water bodies may act as alternative water
 sources for birds and complementary sources for mammals, potentially
 favoring species coexistence and increasing community resilience to
 environmental variation (e.g., fluctuation in water availability).
 Understanding how differences in water bodies favor species coexistence
 and community resilience is of great relevance from a basic ecological
 perspective but is also crucial for anticipating the effects that the
 increased demand for water by humans and climate change can have on
 wildlife viability.
description: # Differential utilization of surface and arboreal water bodies by birds
 and mammals in a seasonally dry Neotropical forest in southern Mexico
 This dataset contains the
 records and capture frequencies of birds and mammals recorded by camera
 trapping using surface and arboreal water bodies in the Calakmul Biosphere
 Reserve throughout a year. We also provide the corresponding code to
 conduct the analyses ## Description of the data and file structure ***body
 mass.csv*** This file contains the body mass in kilograms of bird and
 mammal species in Mexico. It is used to match the body mass of species
 recorded in water bodies and to classify the species into categories. The
 columns correspond to the scientific name and body mass of each species.
 ***locomotion.csv*** This file contains the locomotion mode of bird and
 mammal species recorded using water bodies. It is used to match the
 locomotion type of the recorded species. The columns correspond to the
 scientific name, class, and locomotion type of each species.
 **cf_birds_dry.csv, cf_birds_rainy.csv, cf_mammals_dry.csv,** and
 **cf_mammals_rainy.csv** These files contain capture frequency data for
 bird and mammal species recorded in various water bodies during the dry
 and rainy seasons. The data is arranged as matrices with species'
 scientific names as columns and site names as rows. ***events.csv*** This
 file contains independent events of birds and mammals recorded using water
 bodies in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Coordinates of sites can be
 provided upon reasonable request. Each column contains the following
 information. | Column | Entry | Value | Explanation | | :----- |
 :---------- | :---------- |
 :------------------------------------------------ | | A | Date | Numerical
 | Date and time of event (DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM) | | B | StationID |
 Categorical | Camera trap station where the event was recorded | | C |
 Season | Categorical | Season when the event was recorded | | D |
 Water\_body | Categorical | Type of water body | | E | Class | Categorical
 | Vertebrate class | | F | SpeciesID | Categorical | Scientific name | | G
 | Temperature | Numerical | Temperature recorded by the camera trap (°C) |
 | H | Individuals | Numerical | Maximum number of individuals in the event
 | | I | Independ | Numerical | All of them 1, just for reference in the
 analyses | ## Code/Software R software (version 4.3.1) was used to run the
 analyses. Two scripts, corresponding to composition and Hill number
 analyses, are included in the files. Each script provides highly detailed
 information about the required packages and steps.