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Wituszynski D, Hayford D, Poesel A, Apte G, Matthews SN, Martin J. Effects of a large-scale bioretention installation on the species composition of an urban bird community as determined by passive acoustic monitoring. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 2024; 196:1037. [PMID: 39382737 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-024-13143-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2024] [Indexed: 10/10/2024]
Abstract
As urbanization accelerates worldwide, municipalities are attempting to construct new green spaces within their borders. The perceived ecological value of these places is frequently tied to their ability to attract urban wildlife, such as birds, which can easily be observed and enjoyed. As one strategy, stormwater is now frequently managed with green infrastructure: planted areas that retain and treat stormwater rather than merely directing it to surface waters. While these practices have the potential to provide habitat for urban wildlife, the ecological effects of these systems are largely unknown. To assess whether one green infrastructure project increases habitat value, we used passive acoustic monitoring to survey urban bird communities in and near a large green infrastructure project in Columbus, Ohio (USA). Bird communities near bioretention cells (rain gardens) were compared to those at nearby lawns and remnant or restored natural areas. We found that recently installed bioretention cells tended to support more omnivores, lower-canopy foraging species, and species from a higher diversity of feeding guilds than did nearby lawn control sites. We were unable to detect effects of nearby bioretention installations on bird species richness at other sites. The observed differences in species richness were fairly small, and we urge caution when anticipating the habitat value of bioretention cells, at least for bird species. However, the results that we observed suggest that bioretention cells could have a more positive impact on bird communities in different contexts or using different design strategies. The bioretention cells surveyed in this study were small and only planted in grasses and forbs, potentially limiting their ability to offer complex habitat. They were also relatively young, and future work is needed to determine their long-term effect on avian communities and biodiversity of other taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Wituszynski
- Department of Food Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University, OH, Columbus, USA.
- Department of Research and Development, Engineering Ministries International, Kajjansi, Uganda.
| | | | - Angelika Poesel
- Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA, OH
| | - Gautam Apte
- School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA, OH
| | - Stephen N Matthews
- School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA, OH
| | - Jay Martin
- Department of Food Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Ohio State University, OH, Columbus, USA
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Luna Á, Rausell-Moreno A. Unveiling the urban colonization of the Asian water monitor ( Varanus salvator) across its distribution range using citizen science. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17357. [PMID: 39184396 PMCID: PMC11344998 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 08/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Background This study aims to investigate the urban colonization of the Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator) across its entire range of distribution, addressing the paucity of research on this species in urban ecosystems. The research spans the geographic range of the Asian water monitor, focusing on urbanized areas where the species accumulates more observations (Bangkok, Colombo, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore). Methods We conducted a systematic review to comprehensively assess the current knowledge of the species' presence in cities. Additionally, citizen science data from repositories like GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information facility ) were utilized to analyze the distribution patterns of V. salvator in urban environments. To elucidate urban distribution and correct collection biases, observations were weighted by sampling effort, using as a proxy all squamate occurrences available from 2010-2023, including V. salvator. Results Despite the widespread presence of the Asian water monitor in numerous cities within its distribution range, the available studies on the topic appear to be scarce. Existing research primarily consists of descriptive reports on diet and behavior. Our findings indicate that V. salvator predominantly colonizes green patches in urban areas, such as parks and small gardens. Larger cities exhibit higher records, potentially due to both permanent populations and increased citizen science reporting. Conclusions The Asian water monitor, as the largest lizard with established populations in cities, remains scarcely studied on a broader scale. However, the urban design of each city seems relevant to understand the distribution patterns within each context. Our study highlights the need for further research to explore the ecological and human dimensions associated with the species' presence in urban environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Álvaro Luna
- Department of Biosciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Armand Rausell-Moreno
- Department of Biogeography and Global Change, National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC), Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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Lamberson AM, Smith JA. Supplementary feeding of birds during the winter influences measures of avian community structure in yards in a subtropical city. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0302007. [PMID: 38776305 PMCID: PMC11111068 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Supplementary feeding, the intentional provision of food to wild birds is a common activity in developed nations during the winter. The energy inputs represented by supplementary feeding are vast, and thus it is likely an important mechanism shaping bird communities in urban areas. However, research in this regard has mainly occurred in temperate and non-urban settings. Moreover, few studies have been informed by supplementary feeding habits of local community members limiting their inference. We evaluated the effects of two commonly provided wild bird foods on the abundance and species diversity of birds in yards over two winters in San Antonio, Texas, United States, a city located in a subtropical region. We used a reversed Before-After-Control-Impact experimental design in which yards were randomly allocated either mixed seed, Nyjer, or no food (control) between November 2019 and March 2020 (Year One). Between November 2020 and March 2021 (Year Two) supplementary food was not provided in any yards. Point counts conducted during both years of the study revealed that overall bird abundance was consistent between years in control yards and yards provided with Nyjer. In contrast, overall bird abundance was statistically significantly higher when supplementary food was present in mixed seed yards, driven by an increase in granivorous and omnivorous species. In contrast, supplementary feeding had no statistically significant effect on the abundance of insectivorous species or on species diversity, although species diversity tended to be higher in the presence of mixed seed. Our study demonstrates that wild bird food commonly provided by community members influences measures of avian community structure during the winter in urban yards in a subtropical city. However, these results depend on the type of bird food provided. Our results provide insight into the processes underlying the effects of urbanization on bird communities, and thus have implications for the management of urban birds more broadly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda M. Lamberson
- Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
| | - Jennifer A. Smith
- Department of Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, United States of America
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Holdgrafer JP, Mason DS, Coleman TS, Lashley MA. Food resource richness increases seed disperser visitations and seed rain richness. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11093. [PMID: 38440083 PMCID: PMC10911962 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Within the context of global change, seed dispersal research often focuses on changes in disperser communities (i.e., seed dispersers, such as birds, in an area) resulting from habitat fragmentation. This approach may not be completely illustrative due to certain seed disperser communities being more robust to fragmentation. Additionally, this top-down approach overlooks how changing food resources on landscapes impacts resource tracking and, subsequently, seed dispersal. We hypothesized resource tracking may promote diffuse plant-animal dispersal mutualisms if resource richness is positively linked to disperser and seed rain richness. We predicted increasing food resource richness attracts more visits and species of avian dispersers, resulting in higher counts and greater species richness of seeds deposited at sites (i.e., seed rain). We tested this mechanism in two replicated field experiments using a model system with bird feeders positioned above seed traps. In the first experiment, we demonstrated resource presence skews seed rain. In the second experiment, we explored how species richness of food resources (0, 4, 8, or 12 species) affected the species richness and visitation of avian seed dispersers at feeders and in subsequent seed rain. Collectively, we observed a positive relationship between available food resources and seed rain, likely mediated by resource tracking behavior of avian dispersers. Our findings underscore a potential key mechanism that may facilitate ecological diversity, whereby accumulating species richness in the plant community attracts a more diverse seed disperser community and indirectly promotes more species in seed rain. Importantly, the resource tracking mechanism driving this potential positive feedback loop may also result in negative ecosystem effects if global change diminishes resource availability through homogenization processes, such as invasive species colonization. Future research should explore the bottom-up effects of global change on food resources and seed disperser behavior to complement the literature on changing disperser communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- James P. Holdgrafer
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and ConservationUniversity of FloridaGainesvilleFloridaUSA
| | - David S. Mason
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and ConservationUniversity of FloridaGainesvilleFloridaUSA
| | - Tyler Steven Coleman
- Florida Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Wildlife Ecology and ConservationUniversity of FloridaGainesvilleFloridaUSA
| | - Marcus A. Lashley
- Department of Wildlife Ecology and ConservationUniversity of FloridaGainesvilleFloridaUSA
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5
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Hayes WM, O'Shea BJ, Pierre MA, Wilson A, Bicknell JE. Bird communities across different levels of human settlement: A comparative analysis from two northern Amazonian ecoregions. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 903:166535. [PMID: 37634729 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023]
Abstract
Urban ecosystems are increasingly dominating landscapes globally, so it is critical to understand the effects of human settlements on biodiversity. Bird communities are effective indicators because they are impacted by the size and expansion of human settlements, exemplified by changes in their habitat use, breeding and foraging behaviours, as well as patterns of richness and abundance. Existing studies on bird community responses to human settlements have mainly focused on single ecoregions and large cities, leaving a gap in comparative research on how differently sized human settlements affect bird communities across various ecoregions. To address this gap, we examine species richness, bird abundances and community composition in human settlements, which exhibit variable sizes, populations, landscape configurations, and overall intensity of settlement in two tropical ecoregions in Guyana, Amazonia: forest and savannah. In each ecoregion we explored how different groupings of urban tolerance in birds responded to human settlements of differing population size and building densities. Overall, we found significant differences in bird communities across the varying levels of human settlement intensity in both ecoregions, with greater differences in bird community composition in the forest ecoregion than the savannah region. In both ecoregions, species richness and abundance were highest at the medium level of settlement of human settlement. Our findings suggest that bird tolerance to human settlements varies based on ecoregion and site-level factors. In the savannah, built features may be benefitting birds from all urban tolerance levels, but they have a negative impact on less urban-tolerant species in the forest ecoregion. Our comparative analysis reveals for the first time that the impact of human settlements on avian communities in northern Amazonia varies among ecoregions, indicating that species evolved to live in a savannah may be more tolerant to human settlements than those more evolved to a forest system.
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Affiliation(s)
- William M Hayes
- Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, UK.
| | - Brian J O'Shea
- North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, 11 W Jones St, Raleigh, NC 27601, United States
| | - Meshach A Pierre
- Tropical Conservation and Development Program, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida, United States
| | - Asaph Wilson
- South Rupununi Conservation Society, Shulinab, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Guyana
| | - Jake E Bicknell
- Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, UK
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Holcomb KM, Nguyen C, Komar N, Foy BD, Panella NA, Baskett ML, Barker CM. Predicted reduction in transmission from deployment of ivermectin-treated birdfeeders for local control of West Nile virus. Epidemics 2023; 44:100697. [PMID: 37348378 PMCID: PMC10529638 DOI: 10.1016/j.epidem.2023.100697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Revised: 05/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Ivermectin (IVM)-treated birds provide the potential for targeted control of Culex mosquitoes to reduce West Nile virus (WNV) transmission. Ingestion of IVM increases mosquito mortality, which could reduce WNV transmission from birds to humans and in enzootic maintenance cycles affecting predominantly bird-feeding mosquitoes and from birds to humans. This strategy might also provide an alternative method for WNV control that is less hampered by insecticide resistance and the logistics of large-scale pesticide applications. Through a combination of field studies and modeling, we assessed the feasibility and impact of deploying IVM-treated birdfeed in residential neighborhoods to reduce WNV transmission. We first tracked 105 birds using radio telemetry and radio frequency identification to monitor their feeder usage and locations of nocturnal roosts in relation to five feeder sites in a neighborhood in Fort Collins, Colorado. Using these results, we then modified a compartmental model of WNV transmission to account for the impact of IVM on mosquito mortality and spatial movement of birds and mosquitoes on the neighborhood level. We found that, while the number of treated lots in a neighborhood strongly influenced the total transmission potential, the arrangement of treated lots in a neighborhood had little effect. Increasing the proportion of treated birds, regardless of the WNV competency status, resulted in a larger reduction in infection dynamics than only treating competent birds. Taken together, model results indicate that deployment of IVM-treated feeders could reduce local transmission throughout the WNV season, including reducing the enzootic transmission prior to the onset of human infections, with high spatial coverage and rates of IVM-induced mortality in mosquitoes. To improve predictions, more work is needed to refine estimates of daily mosquito movement in urban areas and rates of IVM-induced mortality. Our results can guide future field trials of this control strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen M Holcomb
- Davis Arbovirus Research and Training Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, United States.
| | - Chilinh Nguyen
- Center for Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States; Arboviral Diseases Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - Nicholas Komar
- Arboviral Diseases Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - Brian D Foy
- Center for Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - Nicholas A Panella
- Arboviral Diseases Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO, United States
| | - Marissa L Baskett
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Christopher M Barker
- Davis Arbovirus Research and Training Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA, United States.
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7
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Doremus J, Li L, Jones D. Covid-related surge in global wild bird feeding: Implications for biodiversity and human-nature interaction. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0287116. [PMID: 37531331 PMCID: PMC10395953 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 08/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The global extent of supplementary bird feeding is unknown but has consequences for bird conservation and human well-being. Using a measure of search intensity for words related to bird feeding from Google, we document a surge of interest in bird feeding that occurred around the world after Covid-19 led to lockdowns where people stayed home: 115 countries saw an increase in bird feeding search interest. We test whether the existence of interest in bird feeding is associated with greater species richness of bird species, our proxy for biodiversity, and find the relationship is highly significant. Covid-19 lockdowns may have persistent influences on global bird populations and humans' connection to nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline Doremus
- Economics Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, United States of America
| | - Liqing Li
- Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University College Station, College Station, Texas, United States of America
| | - Darryl Jones
- Centre for Planetary Health & Food Security and School of Environment & Science, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia
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8
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Hitt LG, Khalil S, Blanchette A, Finkelstein ME, Iverson ENK, McClelland SC, Durães Ribeiro R, Karubian J. Lead exposure is correlated with reduced nesting success of an urban songbird. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2023; 227:115711. [PMID: 36940819 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.115711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Revised: 02/12/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
Lead exposure is a concern in urban ecosystems, with physiological and behavioral effects well documented in humans. Wildlife inhabiting urban ecosystems are also exposed to lead, yet little work has documented the sublethal effects of lead exposure in urban wildlife. We studied northern mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) in three neighborhoods of New Orleans, Louisiana, two with high soil lead and one with low soil lead, to better understand how lead exposure may influence mockingbirds' reproductive biology. We monitored nesting attempts, measured lead concentrations in blood and feathers of nestling mockingbirds, documented egg hatching and nesting success, and assessed rates of sexual promiscuity in relation to neighborhood soil lead levels. We found that nestling mockingbirds' blood and feather lead levels reflected the soil lead levels of their neighborhoods and nestling blood lead levels were similar to those of adult mockingbirds in the same neighborhoods. Nest success, as evaluated by daily nest survival rates, was higher in the lower lead neighborhood. Clutch sizes varied substantially across neighborhoods, but rates of unhatched eggs did not covary with neighborhood lead levels, suggesting that other drivers are influencing variation in clutch sizes and hatching success in urban habitats. At least one-third of nestling mockingbirds were sired by an extra-pair male, and there was no relationship between extra-pair paternity rates and neighborhood lead levels. This study provides insight on how lead contamination may influence reproduction in urban-dwelling wildlife and suggests that nestling birds could serve as useful bioindicators of lead levels in urban neighborhoods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren G Hitt
- Tulane University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, New Orleans, LA, USA; University of California, Davis, Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology, Davis, CA, USA.
| | - Sarah Khalil
- Tulane University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Annelise Blanchette
- Tulane University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Myra E Finkelstein
- University of California, Santa Cruz, Department of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Erik N K Iverson
- Tulane University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, New Orleans, LA, USA; University of Texas at Austin, Department of Integrative Biology, Austin, TX, USA
| | | | - Renata Durães Ribeiro
- Tulane University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Jordan Karubian
- Tulane University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, New Orleans, LA, USA
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9
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McKinney AB, Barlow KN, Adams HE, White JL, Kellner KF, Ruhl PJ. Foraging Intensity of Tufted Titmice (Baeolophus bicolor) in Response to Feed Type and Extreme Winter Conditions. SOUTHEAST NAT 2023. [DOI: 10.1656/058.022.0107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/18/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Jon L. White
- Department of Biology, Harding University, Searcy, AR 72149
| | - Kenneth F. Kellner
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
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10
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Mak B, Drewitt EJA, Francis RA, Chadwick MA. The raptor lockdown menu—Shifts in prey composition suggest urban peregrine diets are linked to human activities. PEOPLE AND NATURE 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/01/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Brandon Mak
- Department of Geography King's College London London UK
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11
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Smallwood NL, Wood EM. The ecological role of native‐plant landscaping in residential yards to birds during the nonbreeding period. Ecosphere 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Noriko L. Smallwood
- Department of Biological Sciences California State University Los Angeles Los Angeles California USA
| | - Eric M. Wood
- Department of Biological Sciences California State University Los Angeles Los Angeles California USA
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12
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Abstract
Human disturbance may fundamentally alter the way that species interact, a prospect that remains poorly understood. We investigated whether anthropogenic landscape modification increases or decreases co-occurrence-a prerequisite for species interactions-within wildlife communities. Using 4 y of data from >2,000 camera traps across a human disturbance gradient in Wisconsin, USA, we considered 74 species pairs (classifying pairs as low, medium, or high antagonism to account for different interaction types) and used the time between successive detections of pairs as a measure of their co-occurrence probability and to define co-occurrence networks. Pairs averaged 6.1 [95% CI: 5.3, 6.8] d between detections in low-disturbance landscapes (e.g., national forests) but 4.1 [3.5, 4.7] d between detections in high-disturbance landscapes, such as those dominated by urbanization or intensive agriculture. Co-occurrence networks showed higher connectance (i.e., a larger proportion of the possible co-occurrences) and greater proportions of low-antagonism pairs in disturbed landscapes. Human-mediated increases in species abundance (possibly via resource subsidies) appeared more important than behavioral mechanisms (e.g., changes in daily activity timing) in driving these patterns of compressed co-occurrence in disturbed landscapes. The spatiotemporal compression of species co-occurrences in disturbed landscapes likely strengthens interactions like competition, predation, and infection unless species can avoid each other at fine spatiotemporal scales. Regardless, human-mediated increases in co-occurrence with-and hence increased exposure to-predators or competitors might elevate stress levels in individual animals, with possible cascading effects across populations, communities, and ecosystems.
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Sun B, Lu Y, Yang Y, Yu M, Yuan J, Yu R, Bullock JM, Stenseth NC, Li X, Cao Z, Lei H, Li J. Urbanization affects spatial variation and species similarity of bird diversity distribution. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eade3061. [PMID: 36490342 PMCID: PMC9733918 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade3061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Although cities are human-dominated systems, they provide habitat for many other species. Because of the lack of long-term observation data, it is challenging to assess the impacts of rapid urbanization on biodiversity in Global South countries. Using multisource data, we provided the first analysis of the impacts of urbanization on bird distribution at the continental scale and found that the distributional hot spots of threatened birds overlapped greatly with urbanized areas, with only 3.90% of the threatened birds' preferred land cover type in urban built-up areas. Bird ranges are being reshaped differently because of their different adaptations to urbanization. While green infrastructure can improve local bird diversity, the homogeneous urban environment also leads to species compositions being more similar across regions. More attention should be paid to narrow-range species for the formulation of biodiversity conservation strategies, and conservation actions should be further coordinated among cities from a global perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Fujian 361102, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yonglong Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Fujian 361102, China
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Yifu Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- School of Environmental and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
| | - Mingzhao Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
| | - Jingjing Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Ran Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Fujian 361102, China
- School of Environmental and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
| | - James M. Bullock
- UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8BB, UK
| | - Nils Chr. Stenseth
- Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, 03160 Oslo 3, Norway
| | - Xia Li
- East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
| | - Zhiwei Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Haojie Lei
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Fujian 361102, China
| | - Jialong Li
- State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Fujian 361102, China
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Mohr AE, Basile AJ, Sweazea KL. An urban diet differentially alters the gut microbiome and metabolomic profiles compared with a seed diet in mourning doves. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2022; 323:R385-R396. [PMID: 35913000 PMCID: PMC9484994 DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00323.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Revised: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Urbanization influences food quality and availability for many avian species, with increased access to human refuse and food subsidies in built environments. In relation to such nutritional intakes and their presumed impact on microbes harbored in the intestinal tract and metabolic profiles of host physiological systems, our overall knowledge of the role of gut microbiome (GM) and metabolomic expression in the avian host lags far behind our understanding of mammals. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to examine the potential differential effect of an urban modeled versus control (i.e., bird seed) diet on the GM, the metabolic profiles of plasma, liver, adipose, kidney, and muscle tissues, and circulating endotoxin and inflammatory factors in urban-caught mourning doves (Zenaida macroura). We hypothesized that the urban diet would differently impact the profiles of the GM and tissue metabolomes and increase plasma lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and proinflammatory factors compared with animals fed a seed diet. After a 4-wk-diet period, contents of the large intestine were sequenced to profile the microbiome, metabolomic analyses were performed on plasma and tissue homogenates, and circulating LPS and inflammatory markers were assessed. The composition of the GM was significantly dissimilar between diets, with greater abundance of Erysipelatoclostridiaceae, Sanguibacteraceae, Oribacterium, and Sanguibacter and decreased circulating LPS in the urban-fed birds. These differences were largely not reflected in the surveyed metabolomes and plasma inflammatory markers. This research supports the notion that the microbial composition in urban doves is impacted by diet, though may only weakly associate with host physiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex E Mohr
- College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona
| | - Anthony J Basile
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Karen L Sweazea
- College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
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15
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Zuckerberg B, McCabe JD, Gilbert NA. Antipredator behaviors in urban settings: Ecological experimentation powered by citizen science. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e9269. [PMID: 36177137 PMCID: PMC9461346 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal behaviors are often modified in urban settings due to changes in species assemblages and interactions. The ability of prey to respond to a predator is a critical behavior, but urban populations may experience altered predation pressure, food supplementation, and other human-mediated disturbances that modify their responsiveness to predation risk and promote habituation.Citizen-science programs generally focus on the collection and analysis of observational data (e.g., bird checklists), but there has been increasing interest in the engagement of citizen scientists for ecological experimentation.Our goal was to implement a behavioral experiment in which citizen scientists recorded antipredator behaviors in wild birds occupying urban areas. In North America, increasing populations of Accipiter hawks have colonized suburban and urban areas and regularly prey upon birds that frequent backyard bird feeders. This scenario, of an increasingly common avian predator hunting birds near human dwellings, offers a unique opportunity to characterize antipredator behaviors within urban passerines.For two winters, we engaged citizen scientists in Chicago, IL, USA to deploy a playback experiment and record antipredator behaviors in backyard birds. If backyard birds maintained their antipredator behaviors, we hypothesized that birds would decrease foraging behaviors and increase vigilance in response to a predator cue (hawk playback) but that these responses would be mediated by flock size, presence of sentinel species, body size, tree cover, and amount of surrounding urban area.Using a randomized control-treatment design, citizen scientists at 15 sites recorded behaviors from 3891 individual birds representing 22 species. Birds were more vigilant and foraged less during the playback of a hawk call, and these responses were strongest for individuals within larger flocks and weakest in larger-bodied birds. We did not find effects of sentinel species, tree cover, or urbanization.By deploying a behavioral experiment, we found that backyard birds inhabiting urban landscapes largely maintained antipredator behaviors of increased vigilance and decreased foraging in response to predator cues. Experimentation in citizen science poses challenges (e.g., observation bias, sample size limitations, and reduced complexity in protocol design), but unlike programs focused solely on observational data, experimentation allows researchers to disentangle the complex factors underlying animal behavior and species interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Zuckerberg
- Department of Forest and Wildlife EcologyUniversity of Wisconsin‐MadisonMadisonWisconsinUSA
| | - Jennifer D. McCabe
- Department of Forest and Wildlife EcologyUniversity of Wisconsin‐MadisonMadisonWisconsinUSA
- The Peregrine FundBoiseIdahoUSA
| | - Neil A. Gilbert
- Department of Forest and Wildlife EcologyUniversity of Wisconsin‐MadisonMadisonWisconsinUSA
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16
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Mason DS, Baruzzi C, Lashley MA. Passive directed dispersal of plants by animals. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2022; 97:1908-1929. [PMID: 35770842 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2021] [Revised: 05/10/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Conceptual gaps and imprecise terms and definitions may obscure the breadth of plant-animal dispersal relationships involved in directed dispersal. The term 'directed' indicates predictable delivery to favourable microsites. However, directed dispersal was initially considered uncommon in diffuse mutualisms (i.e. those involving many species), partly because plants rarely influence post-removal propagule fate without specialized adaptations. This rationale implies that donor plants play an active role in directed dispersal by manipulating vector behaviour after propagule removal. However, even in most classic examples of directed dispersal, participating plants do not influence animal behaviour after propagule removal. Instead, such plants may take advantage of vector attraction to favourable plant microsites, indicating a need to expand upon current interpretations of directed dispersal. We contend that directed dispersal can emerge whenever propagules are disproportionately delivered to favourable microsites as a result of predictably skewed vector behaviour. Thus, we propose distinguishing active and passive forms of directed dispersal. In active directed dispersal, the donor plant achieves disproportionate arrival to favourable microsites by influencing vector behaviour after propagule removal. By contrast, passive directed dispersal occurs when the donor plant takes advantage of vector behaviour to arrive at favourable microsites. Whereas predictable post-removal vector behaviour is dictated by characteristics of the donor plant in active directed dispersal, characteristics of the destination dictate predictable post-removal vector behaviour in passive directed dispersal. Importantly, this passive form of directed dispersal may emerge in more plant-animal dispersal relationships because specialized adaptations in donor plants that influence post-removal vector behaviour are not required. We explore the occurrence and consequences of passive directed dispersal using the unifying generalized gravity model of dispersal. This model successfully describes vectored dispersal by incorporating the influence of the environment (i.e. attractiveness of microsites) on vector movement. When applying gravity models to dispersal, the three components of Newton's gravity equation (i.e. gravitational force, object mass, and distance between centres of mass) become analogous to propagules moving towards a location based on characteristics of the donor plant, the destination, and relocation processes. The generalized gravity model predicts passive directed dispersal in plant-animal dispersal relationships when (i) animal vectors are predictably attracted to specific destinations, (ii) animal vectors disproportionately disperse propagules to those destinations, and (iii) those destinations are also favourable microsites for the dispersed plants. Our literature search produced evidence for these three conditions broadly, and we identified 13 distinct scenarios where passive directed dispersal likely occurs because vector behaviour is predictably skewed towards favourable microsites. We discuss the wide applicability of passive directed dispersal to plant-animal mutualisms and provide new insights into the vulnerability of those mutualisms to global change.
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Affiliation(s)
- David S Mason
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, PO Box 110430, 1745 McCarty Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32611-0410, USA
| | - Carolina Baruzzi
- School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, University of Florida, PO Box 110410, 1745 McCarty Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32611-0410, USA
| | - Marcus A Lashley
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, PO Box 110430, 1745 McCarty Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32611-0410, USA
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17
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Which birds are Brazilians seeing on urban and non-urban feeders? An analysis based on a collective online birding. ORNITHOLOGY RESEARCH 2022. [PMCID: PMC9116275 DOI: 10.1007/s43388-022-00094-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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18
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Thaweepworadej P, Evans KL. Squirrel and tree‐shrew responses along an urbanisation gradient in a tropical mega‐city – reduced biodiversity, increased hybridisation of
Callosciurus
squirrels, and effects of habitat quality. Anim Conserv 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/acv.12797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- P. Thaweepworadej
- School of Biosciences The University of Sheffield, Western Bank Sheffield UK
| | - K. L. Evans
- School of Biosciences The University of Sheffield, Western Bank Sheffield UK
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19
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Ayala AJ, Haas LK, Williams BM, Fink SS, Yabsley MJ, Hernandez SM. Risky business in Georgia's wild birds: contact rates between wild birds and backyard chickens is influenced by supplemental feed. Epidemiol Infect 2022; 150:e102. [PMID: 35508913 PMCID: PMC9128352 DOI: 10.1017/s0950268822000851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2022] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Backyard chickens are increasingly popular, and their husbandry varies widely. How backyard chickens are housed may influence the accessibility of chicken feed and water to wild birds, and thus, the contact rates between both groups. Increased contacts have implications for pathogen transmission; for instance, Newcastle disease virus or avian influenza virus may be transmitted to and from backyard chickens from contaminated water or feed. Given this potentially increased pathogen risk to wild birds and backyard chickens, we examined which wild bird species are likely to encounter backyard chickens and their resources. We performed a supplemental feeding experiment followed by observations at three sites associated with backyard chickens in North Georgia, USA. At each site, we identified the species of wild birds that: (a) shared habitat with the chickens, (b) had a higher frequency of detection relative to other species and (c) encountered the coops. We identified 14 wild bird species that entered the coops to consume supplemental feed and were considered high-risk for pathogen transmission. Our results provide evidence that contact between wild birds and backyard chickens is frequent and more common than previously believed, which has crucial epidemiological implications for wildlife managers and backyard chicken owners.
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Affiliation(s)
- A. J. Ayala
- Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, 501 D.W. Brooks Drive, Athens, GA 30605, USA
| | - L. K. Haas
- Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, 180 E. Green St., Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - B. M. Williams
- Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, 180 E. Green St., Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - S. S. Fink
- Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, 180 E. Green St., Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - M. J. Yabsley
- Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, 180 E. Green St., Athens, GA 30602, USA
- Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, 589 D.W. Brooks Drive, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
| | - S. M. Hernandez
- Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, 180 E. Green St., Athens, GA 30602, USA
- Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, 589 D.W. Brooks Drive, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
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20
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Sweet FST, Apfelbeck B, Hanusch M, Garland Monteagudo C, Weisser WW. Data from public and governmental databases show that a large proportion of the regional animal species pool occur in cities in Germany. JOURNAL OF URBAN ECOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/jue/juac002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Cities have been shown to be biodiverse, but it is unclear what fraction of a regional species pool can live within city borders and how this differs between taxa. Among animals, most research has focused on a few well-studied taxa, such as birds or butterflies. For other species, progress is limited by the paucity of data. We used species occurrence data for 11 taxa and 23 German cities from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the different German states, in a 50-km buffer around the city centre, to investigate what proportion of species of the regional species pools also occur in cities. While data could be obtained for all cities from GBIF, state databases only provided data for a subset of cities. Sample coverage of data from GBIF was higher across all taxa than of the state databases. For each database and taxon, we analysed (i) all cities where the number of occurrences of a taxon was >50 and (ii) only those cities where additionally sample coverage was >0.85. Across all taxa studied on average, 44.9 ± 7.2% (GBIF) and 40.8 ± 9.6% (German states) of the species of the regional species pool were also found in cities. When all cities were considered together, more than 76% of all species occurred within city borders. Our results show that German cities harbour a large part of the regional diversity of different taxa when city borders rather than the city centre is considered. This opens up ample opportunities for conservation and for fostering human–nature relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabio S T Sweet
- Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Life Science Systems, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, Freising 85354, Germany
| | - Beate Apfelbeck
- Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Life Science Systems, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, Freising 85354, Germany
- Department of Environment and Biodiversity, Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstraße 34, Salzburg 5020, Austria
| | - Maximilian Hanusch
- Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Life Science Systems, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, Freising 85354, Germany
- Department of Environment and Biodiversity, Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstraße 34, Salzburg 5020, Austria
| | - Cynthia Garland Monteagudo
- Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Life Science Systems, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, Freising 85354, Germany
| | - Wolfgang W Weisser
- Terrestrial Ecology Research Group, Department of Life Science Systems, School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, Freising 85354, Germany
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21
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Kinnunen RP, Fraser KC, Schmidt C, Garroway CJ. The socioeconomic status of cities covaries with avian life‐history strategies. Ecosphere 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Riikka P. Kinnunen
- Department of Biological Sciences, Biological Sciences Building University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada
| | - Kevin C. Fraser
- Department of Biological Sciences, Biological Sciences Building University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada
| | - Chloé Schmidt
- Department of Biological Sciences, Biological Sciences Building University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada
| | - Colin J. Garroway
- Department of Biological Sciences, Biological Sciences Building University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada
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22
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Lerman SB, Narango DL, Avolio ML, Bratt AR, Engebretson JM, Groffman PM, Hall SJ, Heffernan JB, Hobbie SE, Larson KL, Locke DH, Neill C, Nelson KC, Padullés Cubino J, Trammell TLE. Residential yard management and landscape cover affect urban bird community diversity across the continental USA. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 31:e02455. [PMID: 34523195 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Urbanization has a homogenizing effect on biodiversity and leads to communities with fewer native species and lower conservation value. However, few studies have explored whether or how land management by urban residents can ameliorate the deleterious effects of this homogenization on species composition. We tested the effects of local (land management) and neighborhood-scale (impervious surface and tree canopy cover) features on breeding bird diversity in six US metropolitan areas that differ in regional species pools and climate. We used a Bayesian multiregion community model to assess differences in species richness, functional guild richness, community turnover, population vulnerability, and public interest in each bird community in six land management types: two natural area park types (separate and adjacent to residential areas), two yard types with conservation features (wildlife-certified and water conservation) and two lawn-dominated yard types (high- and low-fertilizer application), and surrounding neighborhood-scale features. Species richness was higher in yards compared with parks; however, parks supported communities with high conservation scores while yards supported species of high public interest. Bird communities in all land management types were composed of primarily native species. Within yard types, species richness was strongly and positively associated with neighborhood-scale tree canopy cover and negatively associated with impervious surface. At a continental scale, community turnover between cities was lowest in yards and highest in parks. Within cities, however, turnover was lowest in high-fertilizer yards and highest in wildlife-certified yards and parks. Our results demonstrate that, across regions, preserving natural areas, minimizing impervious surfaces and increasing tree canopy are essential strategies to conserve regionally important species. However, yards, especially those managed for wildlife support diverse, heterogeneous bird communities with high public interest and potential to support species of conservation concern. Management approaches that include the preservation of protected parks, encourage wildlife-friendly yards and acknowledge how public interest in local birds can advance successful conservation in American residential landscapes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susannah B Lerman
- USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, USA
| | - Desirée L Narango
- Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, 10031, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, USA
| | - Meghan L Avolio
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218, USA
| | - Anika R Bratt
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, USA
- Department of Environmental Studies, Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, 28035, USA
| | - Jesse M Engebretson
- Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA
- Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA
| | - Peter M Groffman
- Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, 10031, USA
- Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, 12545, USA
| | - Sharon J Hall
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA
| | - James B Heffernan
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, USA
| | - Sarah E Hobbie
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA
| | - Kelli L Larson
- School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, USA
| | - Dexter H Locke
- USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Baltimore, Maryland, 21228, USA
| | - Christopher Neill
- Woodwell Climate Research Center, Falmouth, Massachusetts, 02540, USA
| | - Kristen C Nelson
- Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA
- Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA
| | - Josep Padullés Cubino
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108, USA
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Brno, 62500, Czech Republic
| | - Tara L E Trammell
- Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, 19716, USA
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23
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Bukor B, Seress G, Pipoly I, Sándor K, Sinkovics C, Vincze E, Liker A. Double-brooding and annual breeding success of great tits in urban and forest habitats. Curr Zool 2021; 68:517-525. [PMID: 36324531 PMCID: PMC9616069 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoab096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 11/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Urban areas differ from natural habitats in several environmental features that influence the characteristics of animals living there. For example, birds often start breeding seasonally earlier and fledge fewer offspring per brood in cities than in natural habitats. However, longer breeding seasons in cities may increase the frequency of double-brooding in urban compared with nonurban populations, thus potentially increasing urban birds’ annual reproductive output and resulting in lower habitat difference in reproductive success than estimated by studies focusing on first clutches only. In this study, we investigated 2 urban and 2 forests great tit Parus major populations from 2013 to 2019. We compared the probability of double-brooding and the total number of annually fledged chicks per female between urban and forest habitats, while controlling for the effects of potentially confounding variables. There was a trend for a higher probability of double-brooding in urban (44% of females) than in forest populations (36%), although this was not consistent between the 2 urban sites. Females produced significantly fewer fledglings annually in the cities than in the forest sites, and this difference was present both within single- and double-brooded females. Furthermore, double-brooded urban females produced a similar number of fledglings per season as single-brooded forest females. These results indicate that double-brooding increases the reproductive success of female great tits in both habitats, but urban females cannot effectively compensate in this way for their lower reproductive output per brood. However, other mechanisms like increased post-fledging survival can mitigate habitat differences in reproductive success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Boglárka Bukor
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Center for Natural Sciences, University of Pannonia, Veszprém H-8200, Hungary
| | - Gábor Seress
- MTA-PE Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, University of Pannonia, Veszprém H-8200, Hungary
| | - Ivett Pipoly
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Center for Natural Sciences, University of Pannonia, Veszprém H-8200, Hungary
- MTA-PE Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, University of Pannonia, Veszprém H-8200, Hungary
| | - Krisztina Sándor
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Center for Natural Sciences, University of Pannonia, Veszprém H-8200, Hungary
- MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Csenge Sinkovics
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Center for Natural Sciences, University of Pannonia, Veszprém H-8200, Hungary
| | - Ernő Vincze
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Center for Natural Sciences, University of Pannonia, Veszprém H-8200, Hungary
- MTA-PE Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, University of Pannonia, Veszprém H-8200, Hungary
- Department of Biology, Theoretical Population Ecology and Evolution Group, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - András Liker
- Behavioral Ecology Research Group, Center for Natural Sciences, University of Pannonia, Veszprém H-8200, Hungary
- MTA-PE Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, University of Pannonia, Veszprém H-8200, Hungary
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24
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Amiot C, Harmange C, Ji W. Morphological differences along a chronological gradient of urbanisation in an endemic insectivorous bird of New Zealand. Urban Ecosyst 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s11252-021-01156-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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25
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du Plessis M, Seymour CL, Spottiswoode CN, Coetzee A. Artificial nectar feeders reduce sunbird abundance and plant visitation in Cape Fynbos adjacent to suburban areas. Glob Ecol Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
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26
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Erastova DA, Galbraith JA, Cain KE, van Heezik Y, Filion A, Stanley MC. Sugar water feeding practices are associated with bird species composition in urban backyards. JOURNAL OF URBAN ECOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/jue/juab018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Feeding backyard birds with sugar water is increasingly popular in urban areas, but it has poorly understood effects on bird assemblages. In New Zealand, ca. 20% of households engaged in feeding wild birds use sugar water, often in an attempt to attract native, nectarivorous birds. Developing best practices for sugar water feeding could be a powerful tool for attracting these species in urban areas. However, it is currently unclear whether these feeders actually support native species, and, if so, which feeding practices are most effective in increasing visitation. We surveyed New Zealanders who provide sugar water to birds about their feeding practices via an online questionnaire. The aim of our research was to understand existing practices and their effect on attracting native species, as well as the motivations and social factors behind urban sugar water bird feeding. Our results show that this practice is popular throughout the country with the majority of households successful in attracting native nectarivorous species to their gardens. Sugar water feeder type had the largest effect on reported species richness at feeders in comparison to other factors (e.g. sugar concentration). Feeders specifically designed for nectarivorous birds, namely the Tui Nectar Feeder™, are more successful at attracting natives in comparison to other commonly used feeder types. Thus, individual householder decisions around feeder use can have important consequences for bird species composition in urban gardens. Future research is needed to understand the consequences of sugar water feeding for bird communities and individual bird health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daria A Erastova
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
| | - Josie A Galbraith
- Auckland War Memorial Museum, The Auckland Domain, Parnell, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Kristal E Cain
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
| | - Yolanda van Heezik
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
| | - Antoine Filion
- Department of Zoology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
| | - Margaret C Stanley
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
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27
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Differential Long-Term Population Responses of Two Closely Related Human-Associated Sparrow Species with Respect to Urbanization. BIRDS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/birds2030017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Urban planning and management need long-term population level studies for evaluating how urbanization influences biodiversity. Firstly, we reviewed the current population trends of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and the Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) in Europe, and evaluated the usefulness of citizens’ science projects to monitor these species in Finland. Secondly, we conducted a long-term (1991–2020) winter field study in 31 urban settlements along a 950 km north–south extent in Finland to study how latitude, weather and urbanization influence on sparrow’s growth rates. The House Sparrow is declining in 15 countries, and increasing in 5, whereas the Eurasian Tree Sparrow is declining in 12 and increasing in 9 European countries. The trend of the House Sparrow was significantly negative in continental Europe. However, the trend of the Eurasian Tree Sparrow was not significant. Both species have declined simultaneously in six countries, whereas in four countries, their trends are opposite. Citizen-based, long-term (2006–2020) winter season project data indicated that House Sparrow has decreased, whereas Eurasian Tree Sparrow has increased in Finland. However, the short-term (2013–2020) breeding season citizen-based project data did not indicate significant changes in the occupation rate of sparrows. Our long-term (1991–2020) field study indicated that wintering populations of the House Sparrow have decreased, whereas the Eurasian Tree Sparrows have both expanded their wintering range and increased their population size. Based on our winter count data, latitude and weather did not significantly influence the growth rates of sparrows. When the human population increased within the study plot, House Sparrow populations decreased, and vice versa. There was also a trend that a decreasing number of feeding sites has decreased the House Sparrow numbers. Urban-related factors did not influence the growth rate of the Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Our results indicate that the colonization of a new, even closely related species does not influence negatively on earlier urbanized species. It is probable that the niches of these sparrow species are different enough for allowing them to co-occur. The House Sparrow mainly nests on buildings, whereas the Eurasian Tree Sparrow can easily accept, e.g., nest boxes. Urban planning should take care of both the food availability and nest sites availability for both sparrow species.
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Diuk-Wasser MA, VanAcker MC, Fernandez MP. Impact of Land Use Changes and Habitat Fragmentation on the Eco-epidemiology of Tick-Borne Diseases. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY 2021; 58:1546-1564. [PMID: 33095859 DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjaa209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The incidence of tick-borne diseases has increased in recent decades and accounts for the majority of vector-borne disease cases in temperate areas of Europe, North America, and Asia. This emergence has been attributed to multiple and interactive drivers including changes in climate, land use, abundance of key hosts, and people's behaviors affecting the probability of human exposure to infected ticks. In this forum paper, we focus on how land use changes have shaped the eco-epidemiology of Ixodes scapularis-borne pathogens, in particular the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto in the eastern United States. We use this as a model system, addressing other tick-borne disease systems as needed to illustrate patterns or processes. We first examine how land use interacts with abiotic conditions (microclimate) and biotic factors (e.g., host community composition) to influence the enzootic hazard, measured as the density of host-seeking I. scapularis nymphs infected with B. burgdorferi s.s. We then review the evidence of how specific landscape configuration, in particular forest fragmentation, influences the enzootic hazard and disease risk across spatial scales and urbanization levels. We emphasize the need for a dynamic understanding of landscapes based on tick and pathogen host movement and habitat use in relation to human resource provisioning. We propose a coupled natural-human systems framework for tick-borne diseases that accounts for the multiple interactions, nonlinearities and feedbacks in the system and conclude with a call for standardization of methodology and terminology to help integrate studies conducted at multiple scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria A Diuk-Wasser
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York
| | - Meredith C VanAcker
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York
| | - Maria P Fernandez
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York
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Shutt JD, Trivedi UH, Nicholls JA. Faecal metabarcoding reveals pervasive long-distance impacts of garden bird feeding. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210480. [PMID: 34034514 PMCID: PMC8150026 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Supplementary feeding of wildlife is widespread, being undertaken by more than half of households in many countries. However, the impact that these supplemental resources have is unclear, with impacts largely considered to be restricted to urban ecosystems. We reveal the pervasiveness of supplementary foodstuffs in the diet of a wild bird using metabarcoding of blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) faeces collected in early spring from a 220 km transect in Scotland with a large urbanization gradient. Supplementary foodstuffs were present in the majority of samples, with peanut (Arachis hypogaea) the single commonest (either natural or supplementary) dietary item. Consumption rates exhibited a distance decay from human habitation but remained high at several hundred metres from the nearest household and continued to our study limit of 1.4 km distant. Supplementary food consumption was associated with a near quadrupling of blue tit breeding density and a 5-day advancement of breeding phenology. We show that woodland bird species using supplementary food have increasing UK population trends, while species that do not, and/or are outcompeted by blue tits, are likely to be declining. We suggest that the impacts of supplementary feeding are larger and more spatially extensive than currently appreciated and could be disrupting population and ecosystem dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jack D. Shutt
- Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M1 5GD, UK
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, The King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK
| | - Urmi H. Trivedi
- Edinburgh Genomics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK
| | - James A. Nicholls
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, The King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK
- Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
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Basile AJ, Renner MW, Kayata L, Deviche P, Sweazea KL. A Four-Week Urban Diet Impairs Vasodilation but Not Nutritional Physiology in Wild-Caught Mourning Doves ( Zenaida macroura). Physiol Biochem Zool 2021; 94:241-252. [PMID: 34032554 DOI: 10.1086/714831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractBirds living in urban areas routinely consume anthropogenic foods, but the physiological consequences of this consumption are poorly understood. To address this question, we investigated the effects of an urban diet (UD) in wild, urban-caught mourning doves in a controlled environment. Since anthropogenic foods often contain a high proportion of refined carbohydrate and fat, we predicted that UD consumption alters body mass as well as plasma and tissue metabolites and that it impairs vasodilation. To test this prediction, we compared body mass, various nutritional physiology parameters, and peripheral vasodilation of doves fed an UD (1∶1 ratio of bird seeds and french fries; [Formula: see text]) with those of doves receiving a control diet (CON, bird seed diet; [Formula: see text]) for 4 wk. At the end of the dietary manipulation period, birds were euthanized, and we dissected cranial tibial arteries to measure ex vivo vasodilation in response to acetylcholine treatment after phenylephrine-induced vasoconstriction. We also collected cardiac blood as well as liver, pectoralis, and gastrocnemius muscle samples to measure nutritional metabolite concentrations. Vasodilation of tibial arteries was impaired in UD- compared to CON-fed birds ([Formula: see text]), suggesting the potential for UD consumption to alter cardiovascular function. Body mass, plasma osmolality, glucose, sodium, insulin, triglyceride, uric acid, liver glycogen and triglycerides, and muscle glycogen did not differ between groups. The results suggest that short-term consumption of a diet composed of 50% anthropogenic foods is not associated with major metabolic perturbations in urban mourning doves.
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31
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Haemig PD, Sjöstedt de Luna S, Blank H. Dynamic table‐visiting behavior of birds at outdoor restaurants and cafés. Ethology 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Paul D. Haemig
- Nature Division Government of Jönköping Province Jönköping Sweden
- Department of Natural Sciences Linneaus University Kalmar Sweden
| | | | - Henrick Blank
- Nature Division Government of Jönköping Province Jönköping Sweden
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32
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Sengupta A, McConkey KR, Kwit C. The influence of provisioning on animal‐mediated seed dispersal. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Asmita Sengupta
- Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment Bangalore Karnataka India
- National Inst. of Advanced Studies Bangalore Karnataka India
| | - Kim R. McConkey
- School of Geography, Univ. of Nottingham Malaysia Campus Semenyih Selangor Malaysia
| | - Charles Kwit
- Dept of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, Univ. of Tennessee Knoxville TN USA
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Mady RP, Hochachka WM, Bonter DN. Consistency in supplemental food availability affects the space use of wintering birds. Behav Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arab002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Across the globe, millions of people feed wild birds and this practice has profound implications for many bird species. To better understand the effects of this supplemental feeding, many researchers have compared birds with access to inexhaustible supplemental food to those without access. However, the consistency of supplemental food availability varies with peoples’ provisioning habits because some people fill their feeders daily, while others do so sporadically. As the consistency of food availability changes, a bird’s foraging strategy, including its use of space, should change. To determine how space use varies with the consistency of supplemental food availability, we surveyed three species with access to experimental feeders that provided constant, pulsed, or no access to food. We conducted these surveys at two locations—near and far from the feeder—within nine sites to determine differences in space use among and within sites. Access to supplemental food, regardless of feeding regime, anchored the movements of each species near the feeders. However, the different feeding regimes had different effects on space use. Birds with constant access to supplemental food were continually anchored near the feeders, while the birds with pulsed access were temporarily anchored near the feeders. In one of three species (black-capped chickadee), birds concentrated in larger numbers near feeders with pulsed access when food was available compared to near feeders with constant access. Supplemental feeders act as spatial anchors but do so in different ways across species and feeding regimes with potentially varying implications for survival and population dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael P Mady
- Department of Natural Resources & the Environment, Cornell University, Fernow Hall, Ithaca, NY, USA
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | | | - David N Bonter
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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Hassell JM, Bettridge JM, Ward MJ, Ogendo A, Imboma T, Muloi D, Fava F, Robinson TP, Begon M, Fèvre EM. Socio-ecological drivers of vertebrate biodiversity and human-animal interfaces across an urban landscape. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:781-792. [PMID: 33263214 PMCID: PMC7983883 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 10/10/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Urbanization can have profound impacts on the distributional ecology of wildlife and livestock, with implications for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and human health. A wealth of studies have assessed biotic responses to urbanization in North America and Europe, but there is little empirical evidence that directly links human activities to urban biodiversity in the tropics. Results from a large-scale field study conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, are used to explore the impact of human activities on the biodiversity of wildlife and livestock with which humans co-exist across the city. The structure of sympatric wildlife, livestock and human populations are characterized using unsupervised machine learning, and statistical modelling is used to relate compositional variation in these communities to socio-ecological drivers occurring across the city. By characterizing landscape-scale drivers acting on these interfaces, we demonstrate that socioeconomics, elevation and subsequent changes in habitat have measurable impacts upon the diversity, density and species assemblage of wildlife, livestock and humans. Restructuring of wildlife and livestock assemblages (both in terms of species diversity and composition) has important implications for the emergence of novel diseases at urban interfaces, and we therefore use our results to generate a set of testable hypotheses that explore the influence of urban change on microbial communities. These results provide novel insight into the impact of urbanization on biodiversity in the tropics. An understanding of associations between urban processes and the structure of human and animal populations is required to link urban development to conservation efforts and risks posed by disease emergence to human health, ultimately informing sustainable urban development policy.
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Affiliation(s)
- James M. Hassell
- Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological SciencesUniversity of LiverpoolLiverpoolUK
- International Livestock Research InstituteNairobiKenya
- Global Health ProgramSmithsonian Conservation Biology InstituteWashingtonDCUSA
| | - Judy M. Bettridge
- Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological SciencesUniversity of LiverpoolLiverpoolUK
- International Livestock Research InstituteNairobiKenya
- Natural Resources InstituteUniversity of GreenwichGreenwichUK
| | - Melissa J. Ward
- Centre for Immunity, Infection and EvolutionUniversity of EdinburghEdinburghUK
- Nuffield Department of Clinical MedicineUniversity of OxfordJohn Radcliffe HospitalOxfordUK
| | - Allan Ogendo
- International Livestock Research InstituteNairobiKenya
| | | | - Dishon Muloi
- International Livestock Research InstituteNairobiKenya
- Centre for Immunity, Infection and EvolutionUniversity of EdinburghEdinburghUK
- Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences & InformaticsUniversity of EdinburghEdinburghUK
| | | | | | - Michael Begon
- Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological SciencesUniversity of LiverpoolLiverpoolUK
| | - Eric M. Fèvre
- Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological SciencesUniversity of LiverpoolLiverpoolUK
- International Livestock Research InstituteNairobiKenya
- Global Health ProgramSmithsonian Conservation Biology InstituteWashingtonDCUSA
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Biodiversity loss and COVID-19 pandemic: The role of bats in the origin and the spreading of the disease. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2021; 538:2-13. [PMID: 33092787 PMCID: PMC7566801 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.10.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2020] [Accepted: 10/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The loss of biodiversity in the ecosystems has created the general conditions that have favored and, in fact, made possible, the insurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of factors have contributed to it: deforestation, changes in forest habitats, poorly regulated agricultural surfaces, mismanaged urban growth. They have altered the composition of wildlife communities, greatly increased the contacts of humans with wildlife, and altered niches that harbor pathogens, increasing their chances to come in contact with humans. Among the wildlife, bats have adapted easily to anthropized environments such as houses, barns, cultivated fields, orchards, where they found the suitable ecosystem to prosper. Bats are major hosts for αCoV and βCoV: evolution has shaped their peculiar physiology and their immune system in a way that makes them resistant to viral pathogens that would instead successfully attack other species, including humans. In time, the coronaviruses that bats host as reservoirs have undergone recombination and other modifications that have increased their ability for inter-species transmission: one modification of particular importance has been the development of the ability to use ACE2 as a receptor in host cells. This particular development in CoVs has been responsible for the serious outbreaks in the last two decades, and for the present COVID-19 pandemic.
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Planillo A, Kramer‐Schadt S, Buchholz S, Gras P, von der Lippe M, Radchuk V. Arthropod abundance modulates bird community responses to urbanization. DIVERS DISTRIB 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/ddi.13169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Aimara Planillo
- Department of Ecological Dynamics Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) Berlin Germany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
| | - Stephanie Kramer‐Schadt
- Department of Ecological Dynamics Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) Berlin Germany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
- Department of Ecology Technische Universität Berlin (TU) Berlin Germany
| | - Sascha Buchholz
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
- Department of Ecology Technische Universität Berlin (TU) Berlin Germany
| | - Pierre Gras
- Department of Ecological Dynamics Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) Berlin Germany
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
| | - Moritz von der Lippe
- Berlin‐Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB) Berlin Germany
- Department of Ecology Technische Universität Berlin (TU) Berlin Germany
| | - Viktoriia Radchuk
- Department of Ecological Dynamics Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) Berlin Germany
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37
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Burt SA, Vos CJ, Buijs JA, Corbee RJ. Nutritional implications of feeding free-living birds in public urban areas. J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr (Berl) 2020; 105:385-393. [PMID: 32949068 PMCID: PMC7984256 DOI: 10.1111/jpn.13441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Revised: 07/29/2020] [Accepted: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Supplementary feeding can affect populations of birds. It reduces energy spent on foraging and reduces the risk of starvation, but it also increases the risk of disease transmission and predation. Supplementary feeding may reduce species richness if some species are better able to exploit supplementary food resources than others. Feeding may also artificially inflate the carrying capacity of the ecosystem, leading to bird nuisance in the form of droppings and noise. The aim of this study was to characterise and quantify the risk factors and consequences of feeding free‐living birds in public areas in the western part of the city of Amsterdam. In seven study areas, the following data were collected: bird population size and species composition, feeding events, and the type and amount of supplementary food offered. Estimations were made of the nutritional energy provided and the number of birds that could be supported by the food offered. Members of the public who fed the birds were invited to complete a questionnaire on various aspects of feeding. Results showed that supplementary feeding attracts juvenile gulls and feral pigeons, which could in the long‐term affect biodiversity. Bread was the main category of supplementary food being offered (estimated to be 67% of the total amount of food). The majority of respondents fed birds so as not to waste bread and meal leftovers. In six of the seven areas studied, an overabundance of nutritional energy was calculated. We conclude that the current type and extent of supplementary feeding in the city of Amsterdam is nutritionally unbalanced and affects species diversity at a local level. The overabundance is undesirable for reasons of both animal health, because it can lead to malnutrition, and public health, because surplus food attracts rats and may also have a negative effect on water quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara A Burt
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Cornelis J Vos
- Department of Companion Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Jan A Buijs
- Municipal Health Service, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ronald J Corbee
- Department of Companion Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Deguines N, Lorrilliere R, Dozières A, Bessa-Gomes C, Chiron F. Any despot at my table? Competition among native and introduced bird species at garden birdfeeders in winter. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2020; 734:139263. [PMID: 32475721 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Revised: 05/04/2020] [Accepted: 05/05/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Garden bird feeding constitutes a massive provision of food that can support bird communities, but there is a growing concern it might favour the establishment of exotic species that could be detrimental to others. How bird species compete with novel species for this anthropogenic food resources needs to be assessed. Here, we investigated competition in wintering bird communities at garden birdfeeders. We evaluated whether - and how much - bird access to resources is hampered by the presence of putative superior competing species, among which the Rose-ringed parakeet, the most abundant introduced species across Europe. Using the nation-wide citizen science scheme BirdLab, in which volunteers record in real-time bird attendance on a pair of birdfeeders during 5-minute sessions, we tested whether i) cumulative bird presence time and richness at birdfeeders, and ii) species probability of presence at birdfeeders, were influenced by three large species (the Eurasian magpie, the Eurasian collared-dove, and the Rose-ringed parakeet). Additionally, we assessed whether the Rose-ringed parakeet occupied resources significantly more than others. Presence of the Rose-ringed parakeet or the Eurasian collared-dove similarly reduced community cumulative presence time at birdfeeders, but only the dove reduced community richness. Each of the three large species influenced the presence of at least one of the six smaller species that could be separately modelled, but effects varied in strength and direction. The Rose-ringed parakeet and the Eurasian collared-dove were among the three species monopolising birdfeeders the longest, substantially more than the Eurasian magpie. Our findings confirm the competitive abilities of the large species studied, but do not suggest that garden bird feeding may alarmingly favour introduced species with detrimental effects on native species. Given the variability of large species' effects on small passerines, direct and indirect interactions among all species must be examined to fully understand the ecological net effects at stake.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Deguines
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique Evolution, 91405 Orsay, France; Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, CP 135, 57 rue Cuvier 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Romain Lorrilliere
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique Evolution, 91405 Orsay, France; Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, CP 135, 57 rue Cuvier 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Anne Dozières
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, CP 135, 57 rue Cuvier 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Carmen Bessa-Gomes
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique Evolution, 91405 Orsay, France.
| | - François Chiron
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique Evolution, 91405 Orsay, France.
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Mohring B, Henry PY, Jiguet F, Malher F, Angelier F. Investigating temporal and spatial correlates of the sharp decline of an urban exploiter bird in a large European city. Urban Ecosyst 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s11252-020-01052-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
AbstractIncreasing urbanisation and human pressure on lands have huge impacts on biodiversity. Some species, known as “urban exploiters”, manage to expand in urban landscapes, relying on human resources. The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is the perfect example of a human-commensal species. Surprisingly, this urban exploiter has been declining all over Europe over the past decades. The proximate causes of this decline remain poorly understood. We particularly lack understanding about urban habitat characteristics that are particularly unfavourable for House Sparrows. In the present study, we analysed fine-scale habitat characteristics of House Sparrow population sizes and trends using a fifteen-year House Sparrow census (2003–2017) covering the urban diversity of Paris (nearly 200 census sites), one of the densest European cities. We documented for the first time the dramatic decline (−89%) of the species in Paris over the study period. The temporal decline over the whole city correlates with the concomitant increase in the number of breeding Sparrowhawks. We could not detect statistical influences of annual variations in weather conditions and pollution. The decline of House Sparrows is spatially heterogeneous. Indeed, site-scale analyses revealed sharpest declines at sites that initially hosted the largest numbers of sparrows, which are areas with a relatively high proportion of green spaces and new buildings. Further experimental studies are now needed to disentangle the exact impact of specific characteristics of the urban environment on House Sparrow populations.
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Funk A, Hutton P, Earl S, Deviche P, Sweazea K. Short communication: Levels of land use and land cover in Phoenix, Arizona are associated with elevated plasma triglycerides in the Gambel's Quail, Callipepla gambelii. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 2020; 247:110730. [PMID: 32437960 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2020.110730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2020] [Revised: 05/04/2020] [Accepted: 05/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Gambel's Quail, Callipepla gambelii, are gregarious birds commonly found in the southwestern deserts of the United States and Northwestern Mexico. With expanding urbanization, these birds are often found in exurban and suburban areas where they have access to food sources that may differ from those used by birds living in rural habitats and, as a result, also differ morphologically and physiologically. To investigate this hypothesis, we compared the morphology and nutritional physiology of quail sampled at sites varying with respect to land use and cover. We hypothesized that quail living in more developed areas have access to a greater variety of and to more stable food resources, and predicted that morphology and nutritional physiology would be associated with degree of urbanization. We sampled adult birds at locations in the greater Phoenix metropolitan, Arizona (USA) area that vary with respect to land use and cover types. At the time of capture, birds were weighed and chest circumference was recorded. We also collected a blood sample from the jugular vein of each individual for analysis of plasma glucose, total proteins, triglycerides, and free glycerol. Consistent with the hypothesis, birds living in more developed environments had larger chest circumferences and higher circulating lipid concentrations than birds living in less developed areas, suggesting greater access to lipid-rich foods. In addition, the areal proportion of grass and lakes was negatively correlated to plasma free glycerol (r = -0.46, p = .031), and positively, but not significantly, correlated to plasma protein concentrations (r = 0.388, p = .073). These results suggest that quail living in areas with more grass have access to less dietary fats than urban birds. The findings are the first to indicate an association between urbanization and the morphology and nutritional physiology of Gambel's Quail, but further study using more and larger samples is needed before these findings can be generalized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Funk
- School of Life Sciences, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
| | - Pierce Hutton
- School of Life Sciences, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
| | - Stevan Earl
- Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
| | - Pierre Deviche
- School of Life Sciences, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
| | - Karen Sweazea
- School of Life Sciences, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, Tempe, AZ, United States of America; College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, United States of America.
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Nest boxes do not cause a shift in bat community composition in an urbanised landscape. Sci Rep 2020; 10:6210. [PMID: 32277114 PMCID: PMC7148353 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-63003-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2020] [Accepted: 03/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Nest boxes are often used to provide supplementary roosts for cavity-dependent wildlife, but little is known about if they influence faunal community composition. Long-term monitoring of bat boxes in south-eastern Australia indicated that their use was dominated by one generalist species (Chalinolobus gouldii), causing concern that installing bat boxes could cause a shift toward less diverse bat communities. To test this, we conducted a large-scale before-after control-impact experiment at 18 sites, over five years. Sites were either: (1) those with existing bat boxes, (2) those where boxes were added during the study, or (3) controls without boxes. We used echolocation call data from 9035 bat detector nights to compare community composition, diversity, and species' relative activity between the sites. Chalinolobus gouldii continued to dominate the use of existing boxes, but we found little difference in community composition between sites based on the presence, absence, or addition of boxes. Our study is the first to explore the influence installing artificial hollows has on localized faunal assemblages over spatio-temporal scales relevant to management. We conclude that there is cause for optimism that bat boxes might not have perverse outcomes on local community composition in the short- to medium-term, as we had feared.
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Murray MH, Lankau EW, Kidd AD, Welch CN, Ellison T, Adams HC, Lipp EK, Hernandez SM. Gut microbiome shifts with urbanization and potentially facilitates a zoonotic pathogen in a wading bird. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0220926. [PMID: 32134945 PMCID: PMC7058277 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2019] [Accepted: 12/04/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Microbial communities in the gastrointestinal tract influence many aspects of host health, including metabolism and susceptibility to pathogen colonization. These relationships and the environmental and individual factors that drive them are relatively unexplored for free-living wildlife. We quantified the relationships between urban habitat use, diet, and age with microbiome composition and diversity for 82 American white ibises (Eudocimus albus) captured along an urban gradient in south Florida and tested whether gut microbial diversity was associated with Salmonella enterica prevalence. Shifts in community composition were significantly associated with urban land cover and, to a lesser extent, diets higher in provisioned food. The diversity of genera was negatively associated with community composition associated with urban land cover, positively associated with age class, and negatively associated with Salmonella shedding. Our results suggest that shifts in both habitat use and diet for urban birds significantly alter gut microbial composition and diversity in ways that may influence health and pathogen susceptibility as species adapt to urban habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maureen H. Murray
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
- Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Emily W. Lankau
- University of Wisconsin Department of Animal Sciences, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
- Ronin Institute, Montclair, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Anjelika D. Kidd
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
- Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Catharine N. Welch
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Taylor Ellison
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Henry C. Adams
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Erin K. Lipp
- Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Sonia M. Hernandez
- Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
- Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
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43
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Urbanization and Human Population Favor Species Richness of Alien Birds. DIVERSITY-BASEL 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/d12020072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Human activities like urbanization and agriculture affect spatial biodiversity patterns. The presence and activities of humans richly benefit alien species, but native species usually decline in human-impacted areas. Considering that the richness of alien and native species are inter-related, we explored the effect of human population density, human-related land uses (agricultural and urban), and natural land area on avian (alien and native) species richness of Massachusetts for two time periods using Generalized Additive Models. Avian alien species richness increased with native species richness in both time periods. Despite the predominant role of native species richness as a major driver of alien species richness, human activities play an important additional role in shaping species richness patterns of established aliens. Human-related land uses (urban and agricultural) and human population favored alien species richness in both time periods. Counter to expectations, human activities were also positively associated to native avian species richness. Possible explanations of these patterns may include habitat heterogeneity, increased availability of resources, and reduced predation risk.
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44
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Abstract
The direct interactions between people and nature are critically important in many ways, with growing attention particularly on their impacts on human health and wellbeing (both positive and negative), on people's attitudes and behaviour towards nature, and on the benefits and hazards to wildlife. A growing evidence base is accelerating the understanding of different forms that these direct human-nature interactions take, novel analyses are revealing the importance of the opportunity and orientation of individual people as key drivers of these interactions, and methodological developments are increasingly making apparent their spatial, temporal and socio-economic dynamics. Here, we provide a roadmap of these advances and identify key, often interdisciplinary, research challenges that remain to be met. We identified several key challenges, including the need to characterize individual people's nature interactions through their life course, to determine in a comparable fashion how these interactions vary across much more diverse geographical, cultural and socio-economic contexts that have been explored to date, and to quantify how the relative contributions of people's opportunity and orientation vary in shaping their nature interactions. A robust research effort, guided by a focus on such unanswered questions, has the potential to yield high-impact insights into the fundamental nature of human-nature interactions and contribute to developing strategies for their appropriate management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masashi Soga
- Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Yayoi, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan
| | - Kevin J Gaston
- Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK
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45
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Siekiera J, Siekiera A, Jankowiak Ł, Tryjanowski P. Sexual differences in daily foraging patterns among Great tits Parus major established by radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2019.1671496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Łukasz Jankowiak
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology and Anthropology, Institute for Research on Biodiversity, University of Szczecin, Wąska 13, Szczecin, PL-71-415, Poland
| | - Piotr Tryjanowski
- Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71C, Poznań, PL-60-625, Poland
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46
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Soanes K, Cranney K, Dade MC, Edwards AM, Palavalli-Nettimi R, Doherty TS. How to work with children and animals: A guide for school-based citizen science in wildlife research. AUSTRAL ECOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.12836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kylie Soanes
- School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences; The University of Melbourne; Parkville Victoria Australia
| | - Kate Cranney
- Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis; The University of Melbourne; Parkville Victoria Australia
| | - Marie C. Dade
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences; The University of Queensland; St Lucia Queensland Australia
| | - Amy M. Edwards
- Department of Ecology; Environment and Evolution; La Trobe University; Bundoora Victoria Australia
| | | | - Tim S. Doherty
- Centre for Integrative Ecology; School of Life and Environmental Sciences (Burwood Campus); Deakin University; Geelong Victoria Australia
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47
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Gadau A, Crawford MS, Mayek R, Giraudeau M, McGraw KJ, Whisner CM, Kondrat-Smith C, Sweazea KL. A comparison of the nutritional physiology and gut microbiome of urban and rural house sparrows (Passer domesticus). Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol 2019; 237:110332. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpb.2019.110332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2019] [Revised: 08/19/2019] [Accepted: 08/23/2019] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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48
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Evans JC, Morand-Ferron J. The importance of preferential associations and group cohesion: constraint or optimality. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2723-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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49
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Food caching in city birds: urbanization and exploration do not predict spatial memory in scatter hoarders. Anim Cogn 2019; 22:743-756. [PMID: 31161364 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-019-01271-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2018] [Revised: 03/10/2019] [Accepted: 05/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Urbanization has been shown to affect the physiological, morphological, and behavioral traits of animals, but it is less clear how cognitive traits are affected. Urban habitats contain artificial food sources, such as bird feeders that are known to impact foraging behaviors. As of yet, however, it is not well known whether urbanization and the abundance of supplemental food during the winter affect caching behaviors and spatial memory in scatter hoarders. We aim to compare caching intensity and spatial memory performance along an urban gradient to determine (i) whether individuals from more urbanized sites cache less frequently and perform less accurately on a spatial memory task, and (ii) for the first time in individual scatter hoarders, whether slower explorers perform more accurately than faster explorers on a spatial memory task. We assessed food caching, exploration of a novel environment, and spatial memory performance of wild-caught black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus; N = 95) from 14 sites along an urban gradient. Although the individuals that cached most in captivity were all from less urbanized sites, we found no clear evidence that caching intensity and spatial memory accuracy differed along an urban gradient. At the individual level, we found no significant relationship between spatial memory performance and exploration score. However, individuals that performed more accurately on the spatial task also tended to cache more, pointing to a specialization of spatial memory in scatter hoarders that could occur at the level of the individual, in addition to the previously documented specialization at the population and species levels.
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50
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The composition of British bird communities is associated with long-term garden bird feeding. Nat Commun 2019; 10:2088. [PMID: 31113960 PMCID: PMC6529538 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10111-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2018] [Accepted: 04/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
There is a multi-billion dollar global industry dedicated to feeding wild birds in residential gardens. This extraordinary boost to food resources is almost certainly reshaping entire bird communities, yet the large-scale, long-term impacts on community ecology remain unknown. Here we reveal a 40-year transformation of the bird communities using garden bird feeders in Britain, and provide evidence to suggest how this may have contributed to national-scale population changes. We find that increases in bird diversity at feeders are associated with increasing community evenness, as species previously rarely observed in gardens have increasingly exploited the growing variety of foods on offer over time. Urban areas of Britain are consequently nurturing growing populations of feeder-using bird species, while the populations of species that do not use feeders remain unchanged. Our findings illustrate the on-going, gross impact people can have on bird community structure across large spatial scales. Garden bird feeding is a prolific human activity that provides a reliable foraging opportunity to wild birds. Here the authors use a 40-year data set to show that large-scale restructuring of garden bird communities and growth in urban bird populations can be linked to changing feeding practices.
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