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Yang C, Lu G, Cai T, Yao X, Cai Y. Illegal and Exploitative Sand-Digging Activities Could Be Managed to Create Suitable Nesting Habitats for Blue-Tailed Bee-Eaters ( Merops philippinus). Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:ani13061112. [PMID: 36978652 PMCID: PMC10044522 DOI: 10.3390/ani13061112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/19/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
The development of human society often interferes with wild animals and their natural habitats. Interference during resource exploitation is mostly negative; however, in some cases, it can be positive and even have significance for some species. In this study, we investigated the number of blue-tailed bee-eaters (Merops philippinus), a species under 'state protection category II' in China, between controlled and manipulated nesting habitats from 2017 to 2022. Our results indicated that commercial sand-digging activities, either illegal or approved, initially created suitable nesting habitats to attract blue-tailed bee-eaters but subsequently led to damage of nests or nesting habitats. However, sand digging can be modified by avoiding the breeding season to provide safe and suitable nesting habitats for bee-eaters. The number of breeding birds more than tripled when digging during the breeding season was avoided. We also found that conventional conservation strategies, which strictly prohibited sand-digging activities, did not contribute to the nesting habitats of bee-eaters. This study enriches the theories of conservation biology and emphasizes the importance of dialectical thinking regarding exploitative and seemingly destructive activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Canchao Yang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
| | - Gang Lu
- Haikou Duotan Wetland Institute, Haikou 570100, China
| | - Ting Cai
- Haikou Duotan Wetland Institute, Haikou 570100, China
| | - Xiaogang Yao
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
- Kuankuoshui National Nature Reserve, Suiyang 563300, China
| | - Yan Cai
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
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Arumoogum N, Marshal JP, Parrini F. Anthropogenically driven spatial niche partitioning in a large herbivore assemblage. Oecologia 2023; 201:797-812. [PMID: 36856880 PMCID: PMC10038942 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-023-05342-9] [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: 02/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2023]
Abstract
Understanding how human activity can influence species distributions and spatial niche partitioning between sympatric species is a key area of contemporary ecology. Extirpations of large mammalian populations, the result of a 15-year civil war, within the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, have been followed by an extended period of restoration. The species-specific recovery of these populations has provided an ideal system to identify how niche partitioning between coexisting species is altered as a consequence of extreme disturbance events. Here, we aimed to understand how distribution patterns of grazing herbivores, as well as spatial niche overlap between them, changed between the pre- and post-war scenarios. We focused on the following four grazer species: buffalo (Syncerus caffer); sable (Hippotragus niger); waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus); and zebra (Equus quagga). Using long-term aerial survey data, we quantified range size for each species, as well as spatial niche overlap between each species pair, for pre- and post-war periods. Range size of buffalo and zebra decreased drastically from the pre-war period; with both species inhabiting subsets of their historical distribution in the park. Sable and waterbuck have both colonised historically avoided habitat, with waterbuck doubling their pre-war range size. Spatial overlap between all four grazers pre-war was significantly high, indicating niche similarity; however, this decreased in the post-war period, with some species pairs displaying spatial niche dissimilarity. Our findings highlight how population responses to anthropogenic disturbance can result in significant alterations to species' distributions, with consequences for patterns of niche similarity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikhail Arumoogum
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, Biology Building, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa.
| | - Jason P Marshal
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, Biology Building, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa
| | - Francesca Parrini
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, Biology Building, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa
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3
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Heim W, Thomas A, Berner I, Korschefsky T, Hölzel N, Kamp J. Anthropogenic fire patterns affect niche breadth and niche overlap in sympatric songbird species. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 833:155160. [PMID: 35417726 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2021] [Revised: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The severity of wildfires increases globally, and return intervals decrease. Fires can benefit biodiversity, as post-burn early successional stages provide diverse habitats and niches for many species. How fire disturbance affects niche use and niche overlap of species is poorly understood so far. We studied the effect of anthropogenic fire on breeding habitat use, niche breadth and niche overlap of five sympatric bunting species breeding in wetlands of the Amur River floodplain (Russian Far East). Fire frequency, measured as the time an area burnt in the period 2000 to 2017, was mapped from Landsat imagery and related to the presence or absence of the species. Niche breadth and niche overlap were calculated separately for occurrences in burned (within the study year) and unburned patches. Fire frequency characterized differences in niche use among the species, but the probability of presence was not affected by recent fire in four of five species. Niche breadth was significantly lower in recently burned patches, but we found no increase in niche overlap between species after fire. Instead, the studied species seemed to occupy similar patches before and after fire, possibly because of a high site fidelity. Our results clearly show that fire frequency is a major determinant for the niche separation in the five studied species, while recent fire does not affect niche overlap.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wieland Heim
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Heisenbergstraße 2, 48149 Münster, Germany; Department of Biology, University of Turku, Vesilinnantie 5, 20500 Turku, Finland.
| | - Alexander Thomas
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Xueyuan Road No.1088, 518055 Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Isabelle Berner
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Heisenbergstraße 2, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Tim Korschefsky
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Heisenbergstraße 2, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Norbert Hölzel
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Heisenbergstraße 2, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Johannes Kamp
- Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Heisenbergstraße 2, 48149 Münster, Germany; Department of Conservation Biology, University of Göttingen, Bürgerstr. 50, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
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Morelli F, Benedetti Y, Ibáñez-Álamo JD, Tryjanowski P, Jokimäki J, Kaisanlahti-Jokimäki ML, Suhonen J, Díaz M, Møller AP, Moravec D, Prosek J, Bussière R, Mägi M, Kominos T, Galanaki A, Bukas N, Marko G, Pruscini F, Tonelli M, Jerzak L, Ciebiera O, Reif J. Effects of urbanization on taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic avian diversity in Europe. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 795:148874. [PMID: 34246142 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148874] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 07/02/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Europe is an urbanized continent characterized by a long history of human-wildlife interactions. This study aimed to assess the effects of specific elements of urbanization and urban pollution on complementary avian diversity metrics, to provide new insights on the conservation of urban birds. Our study recorded 133 bird species at 1624 point counts uniformly distributed in seventeen different European cities. Our results thus covered a large spatial scale, confirming both effects of geographical and local attributes of the cities on avian diversity. However, we found contrasting effects for the different diversity components analyzed. Overall, taxonomic diversity (bird species richness), phylogenetic diversity and relatedness were significantly and negatively associated with latitude, while functional dispersion of communities showed no association whatsoever. At the local level (within the city), we found that urban greenery (grass, bush, and trees) is positively correlated with the number of breeding bird species, while the building cover showed a detrimental effect. Functional dispersion was the less affected diversity metric, while grass and trees and water (rivers or urban streams) positively affected the phylogenetic diversity of avian communities. Finally, the phylogenetic relatedness of species increased with all the main indicators of urbanization (building surface, floors, pedestrian's density and level of light pollution) and was only mitigated by the presence of bushes. We argue that maintaining adequate levels of avian diversity within the urban settlements can help to increase the potential resilience of urban ecosystems exposed to the stress provoked by rapid and continuous changes. We listed some characteristics of the cities providing positive and negative effects on each facet of urban avian diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Morelli
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic.
| | - Yanina Benedetti
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | | | - Piotr Tryjanowski
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic; Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71C, PL-60-625 Poznań, Poland
| | - Jukka Jokimäki
- Nature Inventory and EIA-services, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, P. O. Box 122, FI-96101 Rovaniemi, Finland
| | | | - Jukka Suhonen
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Mario Díaz
- Department of Biogeography and Global Change, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (BGC-MNCN-CSIC), E-28006 Madrid, Spain
| | - Anders Pape Møller
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91405 Orsay Cedex, France
| | - David Moravec
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | - Jiri Prosek
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 00 Prague 6, Czech Republic
| | | | - Marko Mägi
- Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Theodoros Kominos
- Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Antonia Galanaki
- Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Nikos Bukas
- Plegadis, Riga Feraiou 6A, 45444 Ioannina, Greece
| | - Gabor Marko
- Department of Plant Pathology, Szent István University, Budapest, Hungary; Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Fabio Pruscini
- S. C. della Pantiera 23, 61029 Pantiera, Urbino (PU), Italy
| | - Mattia Tonelli
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences (DISB), University of Urbino "Carlo Bo", 61029 Urbino, PU, Italy
| | - Leszek Jerzak
- Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Zielona Góra, Prof. Szafrana St. 1, PL 65-16 Zielona Góra, Poland
| | - Olaf Ciebiera
- Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Zielona Góra, Prof. Szafrana St. 1, PL 65-16 Zielona Góra, Poland
| | - Jiri Reif
- Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Faculty of Science, Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic
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Vesterinen EJ, Puisto AIE, Blomberg AS, Lilley TM. Table for five, please: Dietary partitioning in boreal bats. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:10914-10937. [PMID: 30519417 PMCID: PMC6262732 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2018] [Revised: 08/28/2018] [Accepted: 08/29/2018] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Differences in diet can explain resource partitioning in apparently similar, sympatric species. Here, we analyzed 1,252 fecal droppings from five species (Eptesicus nilssonii, Myotis brandtii, M. daubentonii, M. mystacinus, and Plecotus auritus) to reveal their dietary niches using fecal DNA metabarcoding. We identified nearly 550 prey species in 13 arthropod orders. Two main orders (Diptera and Lepidoptera) formed the majority of the diet for all species, constituting roughly 80%-90% of the diet. All five species had different dietary assemblages. We also found significant differences in the size of prey species between the bat species. Our results on diet composition remain mostly unchanged when using either read counts as a proxy for quantitative diet or presence-absence data, indicating a strong biological pattern. We conclude that although bats share major components in their ecology (nocturnal life style, insectivory, and echolocation), species differ in feeding behavior, suggesting bats may have distinctive evolutionary strategies. Diet analysis helps illuminate life history traits of various species, adding to sparse ecological knowledge, which can be utilized in conservation planning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eero J. Vesterinen
- Biodiversity UnitUniversity of TurkuTurkuFinland
- Department of Agricultural SciencesUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
| | | | - Anna S. Blomberg
- Biodiversity UnitUniversity of TurkuTurkuFinland
- Department of BiologyUniversity of TurkuTurkuFinland
| | - Thomas M. Lilley
- Institute of Integrative BiologyUniversity of LiverpoolLiverpoolUK
- Finnish Museum of Natural HistoryUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
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Isotopic and dietary niches as indicators for resource partitioning in the gleaner bats Myotis bechsteinii, M. nattereri, and Plecotus auritus. Mamm Biol 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mambio.2017.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Mansor MS, Ramli R. Foraging niche segregation in Malaysian babblers (Family: Timaliidae). PLoS One 2017; 12:e0172836. [PMID: 28253284 PMCID: PMC5333830 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2016] [Accepted: 02/10/2017] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Tropical rainforests are considered as hotspots for bird diversity, yet little is known about the system that upholds the coexistence of species. Differences in body size that are associated with foraging strategies and spatial distribution are believed to promote the coexistence of closely related species by reducing competition. However, the fact that many babbler species do not differ significantly in their morphology has challenged this view. We studied the foraging ecology of nine sympatric babbler species (i.e., Pellorneum capistratum, P. bicolor, P. malaccense, Malacopteron cinereum, M. magnum, Stachyris nigriceps, S. nigricollis, S. maculata, and Cyanoderma erythropterum) in the Krau Wildlife Reserve in Peninsular Malaysia. We investigated; i) how these babblers forage in the wild and use vegetation to obtain food, and ii) how these trophically similar species differ in spatial distribution and foraging tactics. Results indicated that most babblers foraged predominantly on aerial leaf litter and used gleaning manoeuvre in intermediate-density foliage but exhibited wide ranges of vertical strata usage, thus reducing interspecific competition. The principal component analysis indicated that two components, i.e., foraging height and substrate are important as mechanisms to allow the coexistence of sympatric babblers. The present findings revealed that these bird species have unique foraging niches that are distinct from each other, and this may apply to other insectivorous birds inhabiting tropical forests. This suggests that niche separation does occur among coexisting birds, thus following Gause' law of competitive exclusion, which states two species occupying the same niche will not stably coexist.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Saiful Mansor
- Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Rosli Ramli
- Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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