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Nadal J, Sáez D, Volponi S, Serra L, Spina F, Margalida A. The effects of cities on quail (Coturnix coturnix) migration: a disturbing story of population connectivity, health, and ecography. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT 2024; 196:266. [PMID: 38353774 PMCID: PMC10867070 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-023-12277-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
The increasing impact of human activities on ecosystems is provoking a profound and dangerous effect, particularly in wildlife. Examining the historical migration patterns of quail (Coturnix coturnix) offers a compelling case study to demonstrate the repercussions of human actions on biodiversity. Urbanization trends, where people gravitate toward mega-urban areas, amplify this effect. The proliferation of artificial urban ecosystems extends its influence across every biome, as human reliance on infrastructure and food sources alters ecological dynamics extensively. We examine European quail migrations pre- and post-World War II and in the present day. Our study concentrates on the Italian peninsula, investigating the historical and contemporary recovery of ringed quail populations. To comprehend changes in quail migration, we utilize trajectory analysis, open statistical data, and linear generalized models. We found that while human population and economic growth have shown a linear increase, quail recovery rates exhibit a U-shaped trajectory, and cereal and legume production displays an inverse U-shaped pattern. Generalized linear models have unveiled the significant influence of several key factors-time periods, cereal and legume production, and human demographics-on quail recovery rates. These factors closely correlate with the levels of urbanization observed across these timeframes. These insights underscore the profound impact of expanding human populations and the rise of mega-urbanization on ecosystem dynamics and services. As our planet becomes more urbanized, the pressure on ecosystems intensifies, highlighting the urgent need for concerted efforts directed toward conserving and revitalizing ecosystem integrity. Simultaneously, manage the needs and demands of burgeoning mega-urban areas. Achieving this balance is pivotal to ensuring sustainable coexistence between urban improvement and the preservation of our natural environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesús Nadal
- Department of Animal Science, Division of Wildlife, Faculty of Life Sciences and Engineering, University of Lleida, Avd. Alcalde Rovira Roure 191, 25198, Lleida, Spain.
| | - David Sáez
- Department of Animal Science, Division of Wildlife, Faculty of Life Sciences and Engineering, University of Lleida, Avd. Alcalde Rovira Roure 191, 25198, Lleida, Spain
| | - Stefano Volponi
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Via Cà Fornacetta, 9, I-40064, Ozzano Emilia BO, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Serra
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Via Cà Fornacetta, 9, I-40064, Ozzano Emilia BO, Italy
| | - Fernando Spina
- Area Avifauna Migratrice, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Via Cà Fornacetta, 9, I-40064, Ozzano Emilia BO, Italy
| | - Antoni Margalida
- Institute for Game and Wildlife Research, IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), 13005, Ciudad Real, Spain
- Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC), Avda. Nuestra Señora de la Victoria, 12, 22700, Jaca, Spain
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Abril-Colón I, Alonso JC, Palacín C, Ucero A, Álvarez-Martínez JM. Factors modulating home range and resource use: a case study with Canarian houbara bustards. MOVEMENT ECOLOGY 2022; 10:49. [PMID: 36376936 PMCID: PMC9664789 DOI: 10.1186/s40462-022-00346-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 10/30/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The home range of an animal is determined by its ecological requirements, and these may vary depending on many intrinsic and extrinsic factors, which are ultimately driven by food resources. Investigating the effects of these factors, and specifically how individuals use food resources within their home ranges is essential to understand the ecology and dynamics of animal populations, and to establish conservation measures in the case of endangered species. Here, we investigate these questions in the Canarian houbara bustard, an endangered subspecies of African houbara endemic to the Canary Islands. METHODS We analysed GPS locations of 43 houbaras in 2018-2021, using solar GSM/GPRS loggers provided with accelerometers. We assessed (1) the variation in their home range and core area with kernel density estimators in relation to several intrinsic and extrinsic factors and (2) their foraging habitat selection. RESULTS Home ranges were smallest during the breeding season (November-April), when rains triggered a rapid growth of herbaceous vegetation. Displaying males and nesting females had smaller home ranges than individuals not involved in reproduction. Both sexes used almost exclusively non-cultivated land, selecting low density Launaea arborescens shrublands, pastures and green fallows as foraging habitats. Heavier males used smaller home ranges because they spent more time displaying at a fixed display site, while heavier females moved over larger areas during the mating period, probably visiting more candidate mates. During the non-breeding season (May-October), both sexes showed larger home ranges, shifting to high density shrubland, but also partly to cultivated land. They selected sweet potato fields, green fallows, alfalfas, orchards and irrigated fields, which offered highly valuable food resources during the driest months of the year. CONCLUSIONS Our study shows how Canarian houbara, originally a desert-dwelling species that uses mostly shrublands and pastures, has developed the necessary adaptations to benefit from resources provided by current low intensity farming practices in the study area. Maintaining appropriate habitat conditions in the eastern Canary islands should constitute a key conservation measure to prevent the extinction of this endangered houbara subspecies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inmaculada Abril-Colón
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
| | - Juan Carlos Alonso
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Carlos Palacín
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Alberto Ucero
- Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - José Manuel Álvarez-Martínez
- IHCantabria - Instituto de Hidráulica Ambiental de La Universidad de Cantabria, PCTCAN, C/Isabel Torres, 15, 39011, Santander, Spain
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Monti F, Montgelard C, Robert A, Sforzi A, Triay R, Sarrazin F, Duriez O. Evolutionary risks of osprey translocations. Science 2022; 376:468-469. [PMID: 35482850 DOI: 10.1126/science.abo5970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Flavio Monti
- Department of Physical Sciences, University of Siena, Earth and Environment, 53100 Siena, Italy.,Maremma Natural History Museum, 58100 Grosseto, Italy
| | - Claudine Montgelard
- Center for Evolutionary and Functional Ecology, University of Montpellier, and Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Institut pour la Recherche et le Developpement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Montpellier, France
| | - Alexandre Robert
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Andrea Sforzi
- Maremma Natural History Museum, 58100 Grosseto, Italy
| | - Rafel Triay
- Institut Menorquí d'Estudis, E-07702 Maó, Illes Balears, Spain
| | - François Sarrazin
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Olivier Duriez
- Center for Evolutionary and Functional Ecology, University of Montpellier, and Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Institut pour la Recherche et le Developpement, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Montpellier, France
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Barker KJ, Xu W, Van Scoyoc A, Serota MW, Moravek JA, Shawler AL, Ryan RE, Middleton AD. Toward a new framework for restoring lost wildlife migrations. Conserv Lett 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/conl.12850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Kristin J. Barker
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California—Berkeley Berkeley California
| | - Wenjing Xu
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California—Berkeley Berkeley California
| | - Amy Van Scoyoc
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California—Berkeley Berkeley California
| | - Mitchell W. Serota
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California—Berkeley Berkeley California
| | - Jessie A. Moravek
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California—Berkeley Berkeley California
| | - Avery L. Shawler
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California—Berkeley Berkeley California
| | - Rachael E. Ryan
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California—Berkeley Berkeley California
| | - Arthur D. Middleton
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California—Berkeley Berkeley California
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Dolman PM, Burnside RJ, Scotland KM, Collar NJ. Captive breeding and the conservation of the threatened houbara bustards. ENDANGER SPECIES RES 2021. [DOI: 10.3354/esr01151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Translocation of captive-bred individuals to reinforce wild populations may be an important conservation approach for some species, but can be detrimental when employed to boost exploited wild populations, particularly where repeated long-term reinforcement aims to compensate for repeated unregulated offtake. We review evidence that captive breeding alters multiple physiological, life-history and temperamental traits through founder effects, genetic drift and unintended adaption to captivity; degrades learnt behaviours; and compromises biogeography, population structure and viability through introgression. We highlight these risks for the globally threatened African houbara Chlamydotis undulata and Asian houbara C. macqueenii, 2 bustard species hunted throughout much of their ranges and now subject to multiple large-scale captive-breeding programmes and translocations. In eastern Morocco, annual releases of captive-bred African houbara are 2‒3 times higher than original wild numbers, but no investigation of their potentially deleterious effects has, to our knowledge, been published, although most wild populations may now have been replaced by captive-bred domestic stock, which are reportedly not self-sustaining. Despite multiple decades of reinforcement, we are not aware of any analysis of the contribution of captive breeding to African houbara population dynamics, or of the genomic consequences. Asian houbara release programmes may also be promoting rather than preventing declines, and need to contextualise themselves through rigorous analyses of wild population numbers, demographic rates and threats, maintenance of phylogeographic concordance of released with supplemented populations, profiling of traits crucial to survival and the measurement and modelling of the impacts of reinforcement on physiological and behavioural fitness of wild populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- PM Dolman
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - RJ Burnside
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - KM Scotland
- Emirates Bird Breeding Centre for Conservation, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - NJ Collar
- BirdLife International, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK
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Birds use individually consistent temperature cues to time their migration departure. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2026378118. [PMID: 34260383 PMCID: PMC8285904 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2026378118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Whether migratory populations are preadapted or constrained in responding to global climate change largely depends on which cues individuals use when deciding to start their migration. The identity of these cues is revealed by whether response thresholds are consistent within, but differ between, individuals (“repeatability”). By satellite tracking 48 individuals across multiple migrations, we show that 1) Asian houbara used the environmental cue of local temperature, which was correlated between wintering and breeding grounds, to time their spring migration departure; 2) departure responses to temperature varied between individuals but were individually repeatable; and 3) individuals’ use of temperature as a cue allowed for adaptive population-level change in migration timing, relative to annual variation in spring temperatures. A fundamental issue in migration biology is how birds decide when to start their journey, given that arriving too early or too late in a variable environment reduces individual fitness. Internal circannual regulation and predictable cues such as photoperiod prepare birds for migration, while variable external cues such as temperature and wind are thought to fine-tune departure times; however, this has not been demonstrated at the key point at which an individual animal decides to start migrating. In theory, environmental cues correlated between departure and arrival sites allow informed departure decisions. For 48 satellite-tracked Asian houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii, a medium-distance migrant with climatic connectivity between wintering and breeding areas, each tracked across multiple years, spring departure was under individually consistent temperature conditions, with greater individual repeatability than for photoperiod or wind. Individuals occupied a range of wintering sites latitudinally spanning 1,200 km but departed at lower temperatures from more northerly latitudes. These individual departure decisions produced earlier mean population-level departure and arrival dates in warmer springs. Phenological adjustments were fully compensatory, because individuals arrived on the breeding grounds under similar temperature conditions each year. Individuals’ autumn departure decisions were also repeatable for temperature but less distinct than for spring, likely because of relaxed time constraints on leaving breeding grounds and the use of wind as a supplementary departure cue. We show that individual-level departure decisions informed by local temperatures can preadapt a population to adjust its population-level phenology in response to annual variability in spring temperatures without requiring genetic change in reaction thresholds.
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