Landscape composition drives taxonomic and functional diversity of bats and small rodents in human-modified tropical landscapes

• Land-use changes are transforming tropical forests into heterogeneous landscape mosaics with various anthropogenic land covers. • Urban cover is the main landscape factor negatively impacting bat and small rodent taxonomic and functional diversity. • Functional diversity of both taxa decreases with increasing urban cover, filtering out more specialized species. • Forest cover favored some unique functional attributes in bats, increasing their functional diversity. • Preventing urban expansion and deforestation, while maintaining forest cover and forest remnants are urgent strategies. Land-use changes are rapidly transforming tropical forests into heterogeneous landscape mosaics with different anthropogenic land covers, leading to species loss and the disruption of their ecological functions. While the impact of landscape composition on taxonomic diversity is well documented, its influence on functional diversity remains poorly understood. This is particularly relevant for species like bats and rodents, which play essential ecological roles in both natural and human-modified ecosystems. To address this knowledge gap, we used a multi-model inference approach to assess the influence of landscape composition metrics measured across seven spatial scales on bat and small rodent diversity in the Yucatán peninsula, a highly deforested biodiversity hotspot. Our findings indicate that urban cover is the main factor negatively impacting the taxonomic and functional diversity of both taxa. Urban expansion impacts on small rodents were related to their limited dispersal capacity and small home ranges and the high dependence of arboreal rodents on forested habitats. Forest cover was mainly related to bat functional diversity, positively affecting forest-specialist species. Therefore, landscape modification, especially urbanization, threaten bat and rodent diversity even in landscapes with higher forest cover, highlighting the importance of assessing both taxonomic and functional diversity to develop effective conservation strategies in human-modified landscapes. Management strategies are needed to mitigate these negative impacts, including maintaining forest remnants and increasing overall forest cover. The persistence of bat and rodent assemblages are essential for the health and resilience of forest ecosystems, as they provide crucial functions such as herbivory, predation, seed dispersal and pollination.