Global patterns and gaps in the study of terrestrial birds and mammals' use of freshwater sources: a mapping review.
Water availability strongly influences the ecology of terrestrial birds and mammals. It will likely play an increasing role as a limiting factor as climate change and human demand make water availability scarcer. However, we lack a knowledge synthesis describing our current understanding of the use of water sources, particularly for wildlife hydration. To provide a comprehensive overview of the available research regarding the utilization of water bodies as hydration sources by terrestrial birds and mammals, we conducted a mapping review based on an extensive search of papers in the Web of Science and Scopus databases published up to 2022. We compiled 181 papers that met our inclusion criteria. Earlier papers date back to 1965, but a stable publication rate was not reached until 2005, and there has been significant growth since 2015. The USA, Mexico, and Zimbabwe had the most published papers. Studies were concentrated in areas with a mean annual precipitation lower than 1000 mm, pred
Added 2026-04-21